Little Black Knights
by C6J3A09241
Summary: Knights are hard to come by, they can turn the tides of war, they are the trickiest pieces on the board, but they are still pieces on the board.
1. Chapter 1

**Old Family and New**

"Bianca di Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother." Said Artemis, leaving the tent. My sister followed a few steps behind, dressed in the same silver parka as the hunters. As soon as she got out, she was embraced with warm hugs. Me? Annoying? Really. Okay, I may be a little geeky, but annoying? For real? And all that hugging, something tells me it's not just because she's a girl. Something fishy is going on.

The Grover kid/goat looked over dreamily: "I envy her. An eternity with Lady Artemis? Gods, I wish I were a girl."

"Wait, what? Who?" A legend about Artemis and girls nagged at the back of my mind, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"They get to choose to become immortal. Partially though, they can die in battle. The girls, if they choose that, they'll become her hunters. And spend eternity with Lady Artemis…" His eyes became unfocused, as if daydreaming.

Bianca looked for the first time in years, alive, as if before she was constantly on the verge of exhaustion, and only now does she look rejuvenated. She seemed a bit edgy but was very much enjoying the company.

"Awesome!" It sounded great, but - "Don't they hate boys? I mean judging from their less than friendly attitude, it's not like I get to visit her very often."

"No, she's cut all ties with boys. As a lover, as a friend, as a sister, but who can blame her? Immortality and Artemis?" He sighed again.

Does that mean - They must've tricked her into it. The hunters looked smug. I must tell her.

She would never ever, ever - She looked guiltily at me.

Really? She knew?

Really? Who wouldn't have made that choice? Here's free immortality, and as a bonus, you don't need to take care of your_ annoying brother_ anymore! Oh, and we'll throw in a dozen BFFs, literally.

The Mythomagic figures suddenly felt heavy in my hands. They clattered to the ground, but neither me nor Grover cared.

_Sure, I'm not the best brother around, but this is going too far._

I strolled into the forest, not really watching where I was going. The wolves on the borders of the camp paid me no notice.

_What if I'm really that unbearable? Maybe that's why she abandoned me._

The hunters' camp trailed further and further behind me.

_No, you did this to me. I am not perfect, but leaving me behind is completely irresponsible._

My boots trod a freezing path of destruction deeper through the forest.

_If you can just ditch me like that, then don't bother with what I do._

Behind me, Grover suddenly snapped out of his daydream, "Where's Nico?"

_For real? You're only noticing me now? Oh, yeah, you're too busy being in love with Artemis to notice me, the _annoying_ guy._

He sniffed the air and followed me, right up until to the wolves. They stopped him dead in his tracks, growling and baring their teeth.

"Wonderful!" He muttered to himself, "What am I going to tell Lady Artemis?"

_She's a godly-sized super dirtbag and you're treating her like your dagnabbed crush? Snap out of it, goat! You have issues._

Then I noticed something strange: he couldn't see me.

Sure, I was in the shadows, but it wasn't that dark, I could see perfectly around me. In fact, everything seemed clearer, like I had a pair of glasses that I didn't know I needed. Strange.

Grover gave up and bounded off to find the merry band of certified dirtbags, who returned with him moments later.

Queen Dirtbag (Artemis) looked around. "The wolves didn't sense him. How did he get -"

Ex-sis cut her across: "But he's right there. Can't you see him?" She pointed straight at me, looking guilty as Hades. _Like you even care._

Then, the shadows enveloped me.


	2. Chapter 2

**New Family**

The shadows dropped me off in a huge room. It was pitch black, but again, I could see everything perfectly. There were two thrones in front of me, the smaller of which was empty. The larger one, in the dead center of the room, was occupied by a figure in black robes. One that I knew all too well from the Mythomagic cards.

"Hades."

He rushed toward me an engulfed me in a hug. What in the world?

"Son," he said simply, with tears flowing down his cheeks.

That's a lot to take in, but come to think of it, it made a tiny bit of sense, shadows and all. I was completely at a loss of words. As soon as I overcame the shock, anger soon overtook me.

"Where were you?" I had a sister who downright abandoned me five minutes ago, and now I find out that my dad, an all-powerful god, decided to ignore me for all these years? If he was godly mighty, surely, he could've stop by once or twice. This day just keeps getting better.

"And what happened to mother?"

His face dimmed as he tried to hide the wince. "It'll be easier to show you."

He waved his hand and images flashed before my eyes, missing memories returned. I saw it all, the time he spent with us, the birthdays, even the bedtime stories. Then finally, the bolt that…

"Decades ago, a prophecy was given about a demigod child of mine, Zeus' or Poseidon's. The child, he would decide the fate of Olympus when he turns 16. Zeus and Poseidon were afraid of it, they feared it would mean their downfall, hence WWII broke out. You were so little then."

"Zeus killed her?" I was ready to strangle that electrocuted coward, but father placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I tracked the bolt to a titan, my father."

He broke down, as did I.

Strangely, I had the urge to comfort him. He calmed down after a few pats on the back and continued the story.

"I had to send you to a hotel that slows down time, so you wouldn't grow up, thus, safe from Zeus. It was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"Why am I here - Oh. I get it, there are other kids that fit the prophecy, right?"

"Yes, indeed. However, I am not quite satisfied with the current prophecy child, namely, the Jackson kid."

"Isn't Thalia older?"

"She is, but the prophecy specified that it would be a boy. So if you reach 16 before Jackson, we're good. That half-measure can't get the job done."

"What now, then?"

"Now, you train. Since I control everything down here, Ill speed up time and you'll be older than Jackson in no time."

And train I did.

Swords and spears with Achilles and Hector (They'd been best buds since death), archery with Orion (Hunters suck!), engineering with Perdix, hand-to-hand combat with some CIA agent (-What's your name? -Classified. -So, Mr. Classified? -...), powers with my father and strangely, gardening with my stepmom, Persephone.

In my spare time I also befriended a few other ghosts: Caesar and Rommel agreed to teach me tactics, Circe and Medea, magic (Nothing a few threats can't accomplish).

Six years later in the Underworld (a few days in the mortal world), I grew into an extremely pale teen with a huge intellect (if I do say so myself). Father also slowed my aging to make me just older than Percy. Word came from Olympus that a high-level deity got captured and that my assistance was vital for the resue of that deity.

Needless to say, I was quite excited about going back into the world above, you tend to get bored doing the same things for six years straight.


	3. Chapter 3

**First Mission**

Father seemed odd today, he kept checking on all the entrances to the Underworld repeatedly. Something big is going on, I can feel it. Sure enough, after breakfast Father sent me to oversee a quest… to rescue Artemis. It went something like this:

Father: Go help Artemis, she's in big trouble. Your sister is on the quest.

Me: No, go shove a thigh bone up your -

Mom: Language!

Father: Go or get grounded.

Me: Grounded, no contest.

Mom: Aqua Lad is on the quest too.

Me: Percy? I'm in.

Father watched dumbfoundedly as I grabbed my stuff. Really, I just feel akin to him for hatred toward the hunt. Speaking of which…

Yup, two Princess Dirtbags, one of whom was ex-sis, the lovesick puppy Grover, Percy Jackson and Thalia.

She looked different, more confident, way better than six years ago (or a few days ago? Time is so difficult).

The five of them were in deep conversation when the Grover kid collapsed and started bleating, not a good sign.

As if on cue, skeletal warriors, spartoi, emerged from the treetops. Yes, exactly the ones that have the nasty habit of coming back to life every time you kill them. Great! Time to save some dirtbag butts. I drew the shadows toward me and fashioned them into a mask and a bow. Four arrows made of darkness formed on the string.

The skeletons, who were having an awesome time beating the living daylights out of the questers, didn't stand a chance against me. They clattered to the ground as soon as the arrows made contact with their skulls.

That definitely caught the questers' attention. They were quite startled to see me. I mean, who wouldn't be? I must've looked pretty intimidating. Black mask, black robes, black boots and all.

Zoo-what's-her-name notched an arrow. "Hands in the air where I can see them!" She barked.

I did what she said, made sure she could see my hands very clearly, and gave her what Mr. Classified told me was a very rude hand gesture.

She turned red as a tomato (Guess that really was a rude one), "Why you vile male!" and proceeded to let lose arrows at blinding speeds.

I had no intention in becoming a pincushion, nor an involuntary test subject for future torture methods of the hunters, so I back flipped off the roof and disappeared into a shadow. Orion's gonna love this!

I appeared ── face to face with a boar (who obviously didn't brush his teeth this morning, or ever). It looked at me with a I'm-gonna-gut-you-like-a-fish kinda glare, which was saying something. It was a good six meters tall, with tusks even thicker than me (hey, I'm skinny). Just as I was contemplating how to kill it, Captain Long Tusk turned promptly on his giant hooves and ran off.

Odysseus once told me about a boar (an ill-tempered one I might add) plowing down a few cities. I'm not sure if this was the one but I do not intend to find out, chances are, it is.

Holy father I'm out of here!


	4. Chapter 4

Godly Junkyard

Watching somebody ride a boar is not fun, trust me, it's probably less fun than riding the boar in person. Well, I guess I looked like a much tastier snack than the apple hanging in front of its big fat nose, so I had to stay hidden, plus, the princess dirtbags would very much like it to put a few arrows in my… you know. On top of that I had to shadow travel once in a while, just in case the boar decided to plough down one of the questors. It's a relief when the boar finally stopped and dropped them off.

After a group huddle, a ton of gossip (Thank you, Aphrodite. Too much information, get your sorry false promises and cheap lipstick out of here!), a good few swearwords and way too many tacos to be healthy, they strolled into a junkyard. You guys really know how to pick a place for a midnight stroll. And did I mention it was a godly junkyard? So, something is guaranteed to go wrong.

The five were halfway out of the junkyard when Ex-sis picked something up from the ground and pocketed it. Nothing happened. One, two, thr ── boom.

A giant killer robot roared into action, making the questers jump. Dirtbag princess, always messing things up.

The Zoo-what's-her-name girl reflexively glared at Jackson, _hypocrite_. "Somebody took something!" She screeched and proceeded to pat him down, completely ignoring the fact that they were a few feet in front of a ten-ton killing machine.

Somebody had to save their butts, again.

A volley of silver arrows soared into the air, only to glance of the giant's armor. Grover chanted vines to distract it. Unfortunately, it worked.

Sort of. The robot, Talos, they'd called it, turned and swung a huge rusty sword at him. Missing by an inch, it slammed into a pile of scrap metal and Goat-boy disappeared under an avalanche of bolts and screws. Percy scambled over desperately to dig him out.

Thalia was the only one to do any real damage. She raised her spear and electricity shot towards Talos, causing his knee to buckle, but he got up, staggering a bit, and squeaked what I think was robot for "I'm gonna kill you!" With that, he began to chase her.

Talos was big and slow, but his long strides made up for sluggish movement, which meant running around him in a circle was basically the best choice, that is, if you can avoid getting squashed.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Thalia stumbled over some crowbar and that was the window Talos needed. He brought his giant sword down in an arc, narrowly missing her but it sent junk flying everywhere. A particularly large TV slammed into her and knocked her down. Before the robot could move in for the kill, Percy dived in and started dragging her away.

I was amazed at his bravery, or stupidity. At that pace, neither of them would make it. Thalia was limping and Percy wasn't in good shape either. The dry desert was the worst battlefield for a son of Poseidon. Yet he continued to drag her along. Time to wade in, I guess.

Talos is basically a giant pile of metal, and luckily dad is the god of metals. I lifted my hand force choke style and stopped Talos dead in his tracks, his foot a meager three feet above Percy and Thalia.

The expressions on the questers' faces were priceless. Even Talos widened his eyes in utter surprise. He creaked something that sounded suspiciously like "Footsy?"

I walked out of the shadows in slow-mo for effect, hand held up in front of me, thinking: Gods, I look like Darth Vader.

Percy recovered from the shock and carried on dragging Thalia from the line of fire. Show time! I focused inside the robot on his wiring and yanked a few that seemed important. Nothing happened.

Gaahh! Plan B. I shifted my focus to his metal head, levitating him into the air by his coconut. Talos grasped and made an oddly funny attempt of unscrewing his own head. Metal crackled and groaned, slowly giving way to gravity. I decided to speed up the process.

Finally, his neck snapped to metal fatigue, as I felt the weight on my mind diminish from a million tons to ten thousand. Gods, this robot does not know what low carb diet means. Note to self: bench press giant killer robots when possible, great/terrible workout.

"You!" Zoo-girl notched an arrow aimed at the back of my head, when did she ── Oh never mind that.


	5. Chapter 5

Re-Introduction

"Who art thou, male?" Zoo-girl had deluxe grade venom laced in her voice. High-concentration, premium-grade, first-class, hundred percent sincere venom. Top tier, in fact, probably because I had just saved them. Why did I bother to do that?

"Answer me!" she screeched again.

"Chill, the guy just saved our lives." Percy said, "Plus, he's cool!" The hunter's face turned darker than Thanatos' pants. Umm, thanks? He turned to me, "That was awesome! How'd you do that?"

"May the force be with you." I gave my best Darth Vader impression, completely ignoring the hunters. Percy looked at me incredulously, "Joking, man."

Thalia limped over, half carrying Grover. "Not to sound ungrateful, but who are you? And why are you helping us?"

I shook my head. It would cause too much unnecessary drama, especially since… she was here. "All will be explained in due time. Until then, just know that I am loyal to the gods and I am here to aid you, at the moment, at least. That I swear by the Styx."

"How can we trust thou, if you don't even tell us who you are?" Zoo-whatever-her-name-was questioned, with a little less malice this time.

"I could simply have Talos crush the lot of you and be spared a lot of trouble." Zoo girl visibly flinched, "Besides, I know about your, ah, boss's predicament, not that I care."

That shut her up, if only for a moment. "Where is Lady Artemis?" She snarled through gritted teeth.

I decided to mess with her, "Your father's burden." She paled drastically.

"What's her father's burden." Inquired Thalia, puzzled.

"All in due time."

We found a truck at the edge of the junkyard, it looked even older than me, which was saying something, since technically I'm what? Seventy? The tank was full and the engine, although loud, worked fine.

Thalia drove and the rest of us piled in. I took the back cause, well, people. Living people. We rode in silence since none of us knew what to say. As the late winter sun rose over the cold desert, I found myself cringing at the light. If you stay in darkness for too long you forget what it's like to be in the sun.

It felt nice to have somebody else to talk to, but I couldn't bring myself to show my true face, not with her here. As much as I tried to become indifferent, there's still a small vacancy in my heart that aches.

We pulled over by a river. Thalia yelled that we were out of gas and got out muttering curses. I searched my senses, turns out there was quite a deposit of crude oil underground, a few miles away. It felt as if they popped up out of nowhere. Calling out, a fountain of goo-y black liquid sprouted from the ground, landing mostly on Zoo-girl's face. I had to admit, I had nothing to do with that.

Zoo-girl looked murderous but got back into the truck. Thankfully, nobody asked where the oil came from.

"Stop," we were at the Hoover dam now. what immediately caught my attention was the two bronze statue a few hundred yards below. They seemed… alive, but I decided to drop it for now. as long as they don't kill us and we don't get close.

Yeah, that's gonna happen.

Percy noticed my gaze, "A gift from Athena." That confirmed my suspicions.

"New mode of transportation! Anyone afraid of heights?" I looked around; Thalia turned even paler than me. Zeus' beard, for real? This is going to be awesome.

Thalia went into crazy driver mode and got us to the little plaza were the statues stood, reluctantly of course. Don't ask me how, my stomach still doesn't want to recall that felling. So, here we were, clutching our bellies in front of the pair of giant metal angels.

With my fingers crossed, I hot wired them. Fortunately, they were not the I'll-kill-you kind of hostile, more like the shaken out of the bed hostile.

"Who dares── OOHH, a Zeus' kid!" The one on the left shrieked.

"Where── OOHH!" the second one squealed as well. Their voices reminded me of a 1940 engine on a cold winter morning.

"Do you mind? We need a lift to San Francisco, and we need it fast."

"Could we get a please?" Giant A asked.

"From Miss Zeus' kid, that is." Added Giant B. Talk about popular, not like I'm gonna Pretty-Please these guys.

"Umm, please?" Thalia stammered out, she had a bad history with giant robots, flying and her dad, not necessarily in that order.

"Climb aboard, next stop, San Francisco!"


	6. Chapter 6

Old Man of the Sea

After a less than perfect landing, ten minutes of throwing up and a far too short huddle, we were off to find Nereus, some old man of the sea or another.

Correction: when I said "we", it was just Percy (poor chap). The plan was to dress him up as some homeless teenager and have him strangle another smelly homeless dude in the water. As always, the old man could turn into animals. Percy accomplished his mission perfectly, if you ignore the thirty-one kicks to the face he received in the process (yes, I was counting).

"Where is the monster Artemis is hunting?" Zoo-girl blurted out.

Nereus' face lit up, "That's too easy, it's right there!" He gestured to the pier. "See ya, kids." He tried to turn into a fish to get away but backflipped straight into a metal cage I conjured up. Good job, me!

"Bessie?" Percy seemed to know the creature he mentioned. It looked like a serpent-cow hybrid. There must've been some sort of mistake since the thing looked even more harmless than dad's pet skeletal kitten.

It was Zoo-girl who figured it out. "The Ophiotaurus! If you sacrifice its entrails, you'll obtain power beyond the gods."

"A power you shall unleash, daughter of Zeus." A guy with a heavy French accent gruffed. One that I knew too well.

Oh great! We were so caught up with the Ophiotaurus that no one noticed Dr Throne sneaking up behind us. We turned slowly to the cold bi-colored eyes of the manticore. He picked up a few scars since we last met, which made him seem even more sinister. If I were alone, I could handle him in no time, but if he decides to shoot one of the other questors… we'd be in trouble. Behind him stood a gang of his henchmen, armed with rifles. That gave me an idea. Maybe we aren't that screwed.

"Who's that?" He seemed startled when he saw me and visibly flinched when I met his gaze.

"Here I was, thinking you would remember me." I gave my best raspy voice, which made him flinch once again. Luckily, the human mercenaries were standing behind the manticore. A simple trick of the mist and some metal manipulation would do.

The rifles floated out of their hands slowly and quietly and aligned themselves against the back of Dr. Throne's head, but he was too busy boasting to notice.

"I - I shall feast on the blood of half-bloods. Whoever you are, you will make a decent meal." Although the quiver in his voice sounded like he was trying to convince himself rather than boasting.

"In your wildest dreams." The manticore looked offended, though not for long, since a dozen assalt rifles emptied their magazines into the back of his head.

I snapped my fingers and the mercs' eyes became unfocused. "Dr. Throne betrayed the general, so you shot him. You never saw us."

"Yes, sir!" They replied in unison.

"Leave your guns here, Dr Throne destroyed them in the fight."

"Yes, sir. He sure was good with a knife." They echoed and scurried off.

"That was terrifying!" Exclaimed Grover, but that was only the least of our problems. Thalia was staring at the Ophiotaurus in a trance, with her spear in hand. It was as if the manticore cast a spell on her.

"Thalia ──" Percy tried to reason with her, but I silenced him with a glare. If she should choose power over loyalty, then she would be nothing but a formidable enemy to Olympus. It would be much more practical to dispose of her then and there than some other day. I prepared to yank her spear from her if she tries something. The guns on the ground shifted ever so slightly.

Percy and Grover noticed my intent and paled but struggled to keep a calm demeanor. However, the sweat on their foreheads betrayed their thoughts. The waves by the pier rose higher though not noticeable.

That troubled me. Percy and Grover would side with Thalia no matter what, Zoo-girl wanted nothing more than an excuse to gut me, and… _she_ would likely follow her lead. If a fight broke up, it either I would put all of the questors out of action, or they would give Thalia enough time to kill the Ophiotaurus. I have a clean shot now, but should I take it?

The huntresses were last to notice the hidden battle of the big three. They tensed and shifted their stances, hands on their bows. Their feet were pointing at Percy and me.

That would further complicate things, the huntresses would stop me or Percy from intervening, a second too late and Thalia would be too strong to stop. Unless… if I drop out of the fight early on, they focus on Percy instead, which would give me the opening I need. But that would leave me undefended, I had to dispose of Thalia quickly before fending off Percy.

The seconds ticked by, no one dared even blink for a full minute. Finally, Thalia broke the tension. "Someone... someone get it to Olympus." Although she was not aware of the struggle all around her, she seemed pretty exhausted herself. Her hair slick with sweat and untidier than ever, her breath hard and uneven. She seemed more like she'd run a marathon than stand there motionless for five minutes.

Silently, Percy threw his lionskin jacket into the sea and prayed. He then gestured for Grover to dive in and guide the Ophiotaurus to safety. None of us mentioned anything about the stalemate a few moments ago.

"Now that it's done with, can I go now?" Nereus groaned from his cage. We'd almost forgotten about the old man.

"I caught you again, I get another question." I had just the one in mind, but how am I going to rephrase it so that the others won't notice?

"At what age will I perish?" That should work. Zoo-girl shot me a dirty look, like "How could you be so selfish and ask if you would live?"

"Ah. Smart, very smart. You'll never die. And as a bonus, you are." He grinned, baring his yellow teeth, "I like you, kid. Can I go now?" he tugged on the bars of the cage.

"You know what? I was going to let you go and grab you again." He paled drastically, "Seeing that you're such a nice guy," He nodded eagerly, "I am going to let you go, 'cause I'm nice like that. On the condition that you leave San Francisco, the titans have too much influence here."

"I swear by the Styx! Now let me out of here!" I sighed and opened the cage. Nereus sprang out and was gone in a blink. I have to admit, the guy could run pretty fast when he wanted to.


	7. Chapter 7

Garden of the Hesperides

Zoo-girl looked at the sky and said, "We need to hurry."

The garden of the Hesperides only opens at sunrise and sunset each day, which would give us at most three hours to get to the bay area, so walking is out of the question. Even if by some miracle we made it there, no one would be in any shape to even stand, much less fight.

"We need a car." I concluded, "Follow me."

"Where are going to get one?" Percy asked, "In case you haven't noticed, we're broke! And I'm not big on stealing. Wait, where are we going anyways?"

"Mount Tam. And we're never broke, you are, but not me."

I tasked Zoo-girl to flag down a taxi, while I went to talk to some driver of a yellow VW.

"Excuse me sir, you in a hurry?"

"Um, no, I'm going──"

"Good! We are commandeering the car." I tossed him a black card, "200 grand, no password. The taxi will take you… wherever it is you're going." After that I handed him a hundred-dollar bill.

"How did you── what?" Bianca stammered.

"Let's just say I came from a really rich family." I cut across her, "Like Grace here." The truth, but not the truth they think.

We were soon speeding down the speed way at ninety. The traffics was surprisingly light and no cops pulled us over. That's either really fortunate… or really bad.

"There's a big white ship!" Percy gasped, "It's docked near the beach there." He pointed at a huge cruise ship by the mountain. "Luke's?"

The ship had a monstrous aura, even from here I could sense hundreds of hellhounds and gods know what. "That's the one. I'll deal with it."

"How?" asked Thalia.

"Plug a few air valves, maybe cause a few leaks here and there." Trying to blow up a cruise ship at this distance is like picking a lock with a machine gun ten miles away, but thankfully Perdix taught me well.

After a minute or two, the ship erupted in a huge ball of flames. Chunks of metal the size of cars flew everywhere, most scattered all over the mountain drawing wails for random patrolling monsters, but none hit us, thanks to me.

"That's bad a──"

"Stop the car now!" Thalia yelled.

I felt a tingling sensation on my arm as well. It was the same feeling as before the hotel blew up, before mom… Anger boiled inside me.

A dome of darkness enveloped the car, some tendrils even rose to meet the bolt aggressively, absorbing the energy of the impact. The darkness dissipated after the strike and I received the unpleasant sensation of getting kicked in the gut repeatedly. There was a salty taste of rust lingering in my mouth for hours to come.

"Atlas!" I hissed. _So it was him, he killed her! When I get my hands on him, he's gonna beg for Tartarus. I going to tear him apart! I going to shred him limb from limb. I'm going to… going to…_

"Umm, are you alright? What was that?" Percy and Grover looked over, concerned. I must've seemed downright scary, in my pain, I'd drawn the shadows to cover myself, there were drops of crimson leaking from my mask.

Be smart now, be angry later. You have to think straight, or he'll kill you as well. Breathe, take a deep breath. Calm down. Moments later, my demeanor became somewhat cooler.

"That's Atlas, I felt that bolt before. He loves to pose as Zeus. When I get my hands on him…" The temperature in the car dropped to freezing.

We approached a huge apple tree in the middle of the road. As soon as we got within five feet of the tree, four figures shimmered into existence. Young women that looked just like Zoo-girl.

"Sisters." She greeted while getting out of the car.

"We do not see any sister." The tallest girls said coldly, "We see only six corpses walking."

"Indeed." All eyes turned towards me, "All must die, all will die, but just not today."

"Landon will kill you." Another girl sneered as she gestured at the huge dragon-serpent coiled around the bark of the tree. "Even Heracles failed to best him."

"I am no Heracles. You guys move along, I'll deal with him." I turned to face the foul-breathed dragon. It smelled like a mixture of Echidnas and Charon's five-hundred-year-old underpants, possibly worse.

"But he has so many heads. You'll──" Percy stopped when he saw two apples float into my hands. Immediately, a hundred pairs of eyes snapped open and bore into me, and I understood why so many before feared this dreadful creature, there's just too many heads. Even the Hesperides flashed out from terror. Turns out even they didn't want to stick around Landon in berserk mode. One less problem to deal with, though it doesn't help much. Well, no turning back now.

"Go, I'll handle it. Besides, it's not like I can give the apples back and be done with." I shifted my attention back to the dragon and started taunting, "Oh── poor dragon, you lost an apple? You want it? Come and get it." I was trying and failing miserably to juggle the apples, anything to get the full attention of the hundred heads.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the questors had scooted their way around the outskirts of the garden. Time to my own escape, and unfortunately, there weren't many options. Shadow travel would betray my parentage. Running might work but I'd rather not test how fast hundred-headed dragons can run. Killing him would leave the tree unguarded. Which leaves the only option: distract him with the apples.

I threw the two golden apples as far as I could and ran the opposite direction. It didn't work because A) Landon had enough heads to multitask, B) I kinda taunted him too much so he sorta hates my guts and C) I smelled much better than apples.

Okay, backup plan. I sent the apples twirling around in front of Landon's mess of head and sure enough, his necks began forming knots. The other heads noticed the chaos and joined in. Before you know it, I was staring at a huge pile of monster flavored spaghetti.

Now Landon is really pissed of at me and completely ignored the apples, as he tucked himself into a ball and rolled towards me at blinding speeds. And as anyone who has been chased down by a giant killer wrecking ball of death would tell you: it wasn't fun. I could run uphill, lest I lead Landon back to the questors, nor could I shake him off my tail. The bolt's damage had already taken a toll on my strength. I need to make a diversion, fast, or I would be too exhausted to fight very soon.

Luckily, there was a nice-looking VW parked right in front of the spaghetti-meatball dragon. Okay, back-up back-up plan it is. I pushed a pedal in the car telepathically, hopefully, it was the gas.

The VW roared into action as a blur of yellow struck Landon from his side and ploughed him into the fence at the far end of the garden. That gave me the window I needed. As I raced up the steps, I pocketed the two apples I'd picked to distract the dragon. Who knows? Perhaps they might come in handy.


	8. Chapter 8

Standoff

I almost ran into and over the questors on the mountaintop. For some reason no fighting had broken out… yet. Before them stood three figures. Annabeth, bound and gagged, Luke, paler than ever, perhaps even me. Finally, a tall man with a sadistic smile that I assumed to be Atlas. Artemis was trapped under a column of dark grey smoke a few dozen yards back, presumably holding up the sky. She was grim and stoic as a stone. If she noticed my arrival, she showed no signs of it.

For the briefest of moments, I felt the bang of hatred and for just a split second, wanted to turn on my heels and leave her under the sky. But as soon as the thought crossed my mind, I pushed it aside. This is not a personal matter, what happens here will affect the entire world. Who am I to decide for the rest of the world?

I readied my stance and shifted my attention back to the titan before me.

"Begone," Sneered Atlas, "this is a family matter." So that's the reason no swords were drawn: boasting and trash talking. As the titan was blabbing about some glorious future far, far away, I silently summoned my spear, sword and shield within my cloak and began assessing the situation. Although I'm hell bent on dicing this gods-darned son of a biscuit up, this is no time to act rashly.

Atlas is the titan of endurance, so there's no way we could wear him down once we engage, and there was something about Luke that set me off. The guy smelled like the underworld, or, more precisely, the Styx. It is likely that he had obtained the curse of Achilles, which would make it even harder to deal with him. Of course, we could scratch every inch of his skin, but eventually he too will wear us down. The odds don't look good. Thalia alone won't overpower Luke, add Percy to the mix, perhaps. The huntresses could cover for us, since they aren't good at close combat. So that leaves me and the titan.

"I'll take down Atlas. Percy, Thalia on Luke, Bianca and Zoë provide support."

Atlas roared with laughter, "You, take down me? What a joke! Had I more time, your death will most certainly entertain me, however, we have more pressing matters. The ophiotaurus." He waved his hand a poolof black liquid appeared in front of the fortress. "Call on it, daughter of Zeus, it will come to you!"

I cursed under my breath. He's going to tempt Thalia with power again. Sure enough, she began drifting off. That threw a wrench into my plan. We could leave her out of the action and take on Luke and Atlas without her, but if the fight breaks out it would put us at a disadvantage since if she switches sides, she could take out most of us in a single lightning bolt. While her addition to our side would not amount to much help. Atlas is just too strong and Luke bears the curse of Achilles.

Thalia however, seemed torn apart, and it didn't help with Luke's sweet talk messing around with her head. On one hand, there was her dreams, her ambitions, her old friend Luke, on the other, well… us, worthless us, who will probably be killed by titans and monsters soon. I could see her swaying, as if one good shove and she'll tumble into whatever plot Atlas had crafted. A sense of helplessness crept through me as I was forced to relive my sister's betrayal once again. I became the same little boy whose sister abandoned him all those years back.

What cause does she have to stand by us other when not even blood can hold siblings together?

"Please, Thalia," My voice, quivering, was nothing like the commanding tone dripping with cold anger. The rest of the questors seemed shocked. In my short time with them, never had I ever pleaded like that, even with deities. This cause is something worth pleading for.

"I-I just lost my sister, please don't make me lose you as well. Please, it hurts, it hurts all of us." On that, I dropped the shadows to reveal my face. That certainly gave the questors and Luke a good shock. Bianca seemed on the verge of tears, but this was neither the time nor the place for family drama. Hopefully, my plea will prove enough to give Thalia the final push she needs.

It was. After a silent ten seconds, her eyes returned to their determined state.

"di Angelo. What a pleasant surprise!" Atlas looked like Christmas had come early. "Would you be so kind──"

"Now!" We charged them.


	9. Chapter 9

Battle of Mount Tam

I threw off my cloak and sent it flying into Atlas' face. By the time he finally got his javelin untangled, I had already landed more than a dozen blows on him, Zoe and Bianca pelted him arrow after arrow. But we might as well be blowing kisses to him. The titan of endurance merely roared and retaliated with inhuman strength.

I risked a glance to the rest of the chaos, and to be fair, it seems they were doing much better than we were. Percy and Thalia were slowly but steadily pushing Luke back to the cliff. Annabeth had somehow wriggled her hands free and was working fanatically to untie her legs. Looks like things were turning their way.

The same, however, could not be said of us. I could only do so much to keep the titan's attention on me, and even that was stretching it. The titan was just too strong, there was just too much momentum behind each of his attacks, and it doesn't help with the bolt I took a few moments back. It's like I had to mentally shift into high gear with each swing and put in extra effort with each parry.

"You think you can best me? The titan of endurance? Not a chance, di Angelo. I am immortal. I am objectively more powerful than you."

As much as I hate to admit it, he was right. Although he had not yet landed a blow on me, none of our attacks seem to do anything but annoy him. The few cuts on his arms were already halfway healed. Even the huntresses' arrows pop out of his flesh as the wounds heal. The best I could hope for was to duck between his jabs and pray that they don't hit me.

"Well? Di Angelo? Is that it?" The titan sneered, "You put up a good fight, I'll give you that. But every drop of immortal blood spilt is a complete and utter waste. You wouldn't have fought so hard had you known the truth about your mother. You know, she"

He never finished that sentence. I slammed my spear into his shoulder with such force that it snapped in the middle. This time Atlas sank to his knees, before struggling back up again shakily.

"You just made it personal."

I thrust out my hand and yanked the javelin out of his grasp and sent it back flying aimed at his head. It missed its mark but still sank into sank into his left shoulder, an inch beside the wound my own spear had left.

Atlas growled as I unsheathed my sword. He pulled out both spears and swiped at me, but I wasn't there. The shadows enveloped me, and I appeared behind him, leaving a gash on the titan's back before he turned around. I continued to weave in and out of shadows, leaving one wound after another, each one deeper than the last.

Atlas was a golden mess. His armor was tattered, stained with ichor, yet he remained on his feet. While I on the other hand was slowly wearing out. My attacks grew weaker and less frequent. It was only a matter of time before he puts me out of action.

Which he did. After another feeble slash on his shoulder, the titan turned around before I could shadow travel away and sent a wave of pure energy into the huntresses and me.

The shadows caught Bianca and me before we hit the ground, but I still had a Hades of a headache. Zoë wasn't so lucky. She sailed headfirst into the reforming fortress and there remained motionless. A heart wrenching wail brought me back to reality.

Not three feet before me stood Artemis, who had uttered the blood-curdling scream on the fall of her lieutenant. Behind me, the titan was looming in slowly, knowing that none of us would pose a threat to him anymore. The sick bastard was savoring the moment. To top it all off, he wasn't coming for me.

"Well, di Angelo, I have to say you have exceeded my expectations. Even for a child of Hades." He wandered to where the huntresses fell. Zoë lay there motionless in a pile of her own blood. Bianca wasn't in much better shape either. "Given the right incentives, you would make a perfect weapon. Perhaps even on par with her."

I struggled up and choked out, "I will never join you."

Atlas paused in his tracks, "I beg to differ, Mr. di Angelo. You will do anything I order you to." He raised his spear and pointed at Bianca. "You tensed slightly when you saw me walking to your sister. Even now, your eyes betray you, Mr. di Angelo. You have lost this round. What happens next can be undone, but only by me."

The titan slowly thrusted his javelin into Bianca's gut. She cried out in pain and clutched the wound. As much as I wanted to gut him and make him heal her, I knew I would not stand a chance against him in this state. I also contemplated joining him, but who am I to sentence the world to unspeakable horrors just to save my sister? Bianca writhed in pain again as the titan twisted the spear. No, I can't do it, I can't take it.

An idea formed in the back of my mind. Much as I hated it, it was the only option to keep Bianca alive.

"Atlas, keep her alive for a moment, if I lose her, you lose the only leverage you've got on me."

I turned to Artemis and kicked her out from under the sky.

Immediately I was forced on one knee. The weight was insufferable. It was like a million daggers working into the small patch of skin where my shoulders touched the sky. While my bones groaned and threatened to snap at any moment. In a word, it was living hell.

With my blurry vision, I saw two figures clad in armor standing by my side. They had their swords were drawn and pointing at me, and I could see clearly the cold edge and blood red ruby infused in the base of the blades glittering in the moonlight. So, guess the old man of the sea was wrong. How could he know something beyond himself and even the gods? Dread flooded my chest as I awaited the the visage of Charon.

He never appeared. When I reopened my eyes, they were off, dashing to the deadly duel of god and titan. I attributed it to the stress of the stress messing with my brain and directed my focus back to the battle. The titan made a swing that went dangerously close above Artemis' head, but one of the figures reached out and grabbed the javelin and to my surprise, guided the blow a few more inches higher, missing its mark.

So they were real. I squinted but my blurry vision failed me. Who were they? My mind raced to think of possible candidates but none seemed likely. Why would they want to kill me when they aided Artemis? Unless... I shuddered at the thought.

Thalia and Percy kick Luke off the cliff and rush to fight Atlas, whose injuries had slowed him down drastically. Eventually, he got desperate and knocked the trio back with a wall on energy. Percy sailed straight into the pool of black water Atlas had conjured up. Evene the figures fell down, unmoving. But it was Thalia who got the worst of it. She landed on a jagged rock which ran her through. Artemis fell right in front of me and stayed on the ground, motionless.

The titan loomed in for the kill, his face seemed grey to my eyes, but the smug grin was evident on his visage. The general had bested his foes again. Not yet.

My sword flew from behind me and went straight through the titan's chest. Before he could react, I called on what little willpower I had left and sent Atlas flying towards me by what remains of his armor, taking my place under the sky. He roared in agony as his burden fell upon his shoulders once again.

I crawled my way to the fallen girls. My body groaned from the continuous abuse, but this was no time to rest. I had to make sure Bianca was alright. If she wasn't…

Artemis had recovered. But Thalia and Bianca were a different story. Bianca's wound had only deteriorated since Atlas stabbed her. Her silver parka stained a frightening crimson. Thalia was also bleeding profusely through the five-inch hole in her chest. I could feel the life flowing out from their wounds as the huntresses slip closer to death.

Artemis knelt beside them, her eyes overflowing with tears she struggled in vain to hold back. Despite my rocky relationship with her, it didn't feel nice to leave her this way. Besides, I'm probably the only shot they had.

"Would they make it if they ate apples of immortality?"

"Yes, but no one has been able to pick an apple since…" Her eyes widened when I brought out the two apples in my shirt.

"Do you think they'll…" Artemis didn't finish the sentence.

Nor did I answer. They had to come back, they had to! I didn't know how I'd live with myself if they hadn't made it. The whole thing was my fault: I took the risk, and now they were paying the price. Never had been so anxious in my life,

Just in case they didn't make it. I was going to torture Atlas within every inch of his life. Oh, wait, I was going to do it anyway.

Atlas' curses turned into screams as the metal remains of his armor glowed red-hot. My gut clenched with the overuse of my powers. The pain was unbearable but the fact that Atlas suffered more brought solace to my mind and steeled my will. Slowly, I pushed the molten bronze into his flesh. Atlas' screams grew louder and loud as the metal fused with his skin and effectively immobilized him. Guess he won't be doing any general-ing for a while.

Now that everything seemed fine, I searched the field for the mystery figures, but they were nowhere to be found. If Artemis noticed them she showed no sign of it.

Bianca woke up with a gasp, she shot up faster than mortally possible. "Atlas!"

"Shh… Peace, child. You are safe." Artemis soothed as she tended to Thalia, whose bleeding had slowed drastically and turned a golden ichor.

"Oh, my gods, Nico."

I blacked out after that. The last thing I saw were my sister's black eyes staring down at me full of tears and concern.


	10. Chapter 10

Tempting Fate

"…I will not have my son killed. He is loyal to the core, not to mention a good soldier as well."

"Indeed, brother. However, we cannot be certain that the sands of time will not wear down his adamant. Given power, unparallel power over our fates, he might falter."

"He is not your daughter. I have full confidence that my son will not be tempted with power. The boy does not seek to replace us, and he never will."

"Do not compare that child with my daughter, Thalia passed our test, twice."

"My son does not need to be tested. His flaw is never the hunger for power, but for revenge. And he has reason enough to bring down the titans, I say we give him free rein in the war to come."

"But there is no way of ensuring he will remain true. We will have no way of testing him then."

"Peace, father. The boy may be dangerous, but not to us."

"I second that. He is a loyal soldier. If we are to punish him for no reason other than his power, I will not stand for it."

"I will vouch for my child's loyalty, and that is the end of this discussion. Do not interfere with him, lest you risk losing my aid in the coming war."

Then the voice, which, only now I realized was my father's, grew loud and more focused. "Wake."

I sat up gasping for air. The dark shadowy fortress of Mount. Tam had been replaced by the pale gold palace of Olympus. A little too bright for my tastes. I found myself surrounded by the pantheon, all with grim looks.

"Rise, nephew, and be at peace. Your existence, although dangerous, is a risk the council will take, for better or worse. Fight on, di Angelo, and do not tempt us to smite you." The second voice, which turned out to be Zeus' thundered through the hall. "I hope you will continue your service to Olympus. Our fates do not entirely fall into your hands, but yours do."

So this airhead thinks they could get another prophecy child? Not likely, after the incident on Mount Tam, I've learnt to trust Nereus. Perhaps that deity really does exist between the gods and the fates.

Did they know I was awake and listening when they were debating? Most probably not. It felt nice to know that a good fraction of the council were willing to risk their necks for me, although I guess I'd have to fight harder to keep their support.

"Now, on to more pressing matters. As Poseidon and Artemis pointed out, the Ophiotaurus has reformed. The threat of the titans is eminent."

"Right, I need a report of our forces," Zeus inquired. "Poseidon."

"The cyclopes are ready and waiting, a thousand strong. Although I fear Oceanus has roughly the same numbers. Word is he is receiving even more reinforcements from Tartarus."

"Hades."

"The undead number at half a million. However, we are unable to find and destroy Iapetus' fort in the underworld. As a result, more monsters are escaping Tartarus to reinforce the titan army."

"Ares, Athena."

"We have 1.3 million active mortal combatants, a lot more than the titans──"

"But they are no more than cannon fodder in the war to come. Even the Mist or a few magical attacks could put most out of action."

"Understood. Dionysus, the demigods?"

"A few dozen or so, and we are losing them fast. Most children of the minor gods are deflecting to the titans. May I suggest getting rid of them altogether to──"

"No," my reply sent mummers through the council, "I will not stand for the murder of my brethren." I made my way to the center of the circle of the gods, just like in the ancient Pnyx. "Although that would give the titans more forces, it would only discourage what few allies we have left, to know that their leaders had executed innocent soldiers for no reason other than their paranoia.

"Regardless of the war effort, we have to remember what sets us apart from the titans, what it was that won us the first titan war, what we pride ourselves in: we do not kill innocence. You rose from the oppression of the titans, from Kronos' belly. You fought wars because your parent feared and devoured you. We are better than the titans, we've all assumed that. But I ask you, in what way? Should we murder our own allies── your children, in what way can we claim superiority over the titans?"

It was a risky move, even for me. But if Nereus is right, it would mean I could walk away unscathed. The council all held different expressions, some awed by my nerve to talk back, some nodding to my logic, others outraged for getting scolded by a mere mortal. The throne room remained silent, though a heated debate was raging telepathically. Every once in a while, Zeus' face would turn red as a tomato, presumably for losing another ally in the discussion, while I grew even more concerned of having my butt fried.

After the longest minute in my life, the king of the gods finally backed down. He sank into his throne and sighed. "Very well, nephew. The demigods will be spared on the condition that they do not betray Olympus. Mark my words, we will not be so lenient next time."

The throne room was overtaken by yet another break of awkward silence, I guess that was my cue to say "thank you" but kept my mouth shut.

"Umm, sir? What do we do about the new threat?" Ares piped in.

"What new threat?"

"There have been sightings of the black-robed figure who had been taking out our forces hundreds at a time. No warning, no survivors, not even a distress signal. They didn't have the chance to call for help. Guy's a one-man-army."

"Immortal?"

"Unclear, we don't know if the titans are still obeying the──" Ares stopped abruptly when he realized I was still present. "Perhaps a discussion for another time?" He nodded to the gates intentively. So, they were hiding something. I decided to play along and investigate on my own.

After two shadow travels, I snuck into the shades of my father's temporary throne. It was a risky move, probably even more than talking back. Since the conversation is clearly not for my ears. Father shifted his posture abruptly when I came in.

He cleared his throat and continued his briefing, "The titans might have stopped obeying the rules of engagement. They might be using human shields. we need to..."

That did not fit the bill. If they were using hostages, our forces would've aksed for instructions, how could they have dissapeared without a trace? Besides, how is that supposed to do with the mystery person being immortal? Furthermore, why would they wait until I left to talk about this? They could've kept me around for this if they thought I needed an incentive to hate the titans even more than I do now. A strange feeling crept up to me that they were having this conversation just because they knew I was listening. What else were they hiding? The debate before I awoke perhaps was meant only for me, and who knows how much more they've been keeping from me.

Conflicted, I snuck back into the shadows.


	11. Chapter 11

**Opening Moves**

Not long after the more than exciting meeting on Olympus, orders for the war were issued. Most were calls to arms and mobilization at the borders of Olympian powers. Along with them were more rumors of the black figure, most of the time it was about how he singlehandedly mowed down brigades of troops. Last week it was about Percy Jackson. Apparently, he got attacked in his school, presumably by the same guy. Not even Apollo, who was flying above in his chariot at the time saw clearly. Thankfully, Percy fell into some pond or another. Still, he was bedridden had to breathe through a tube for an entire month, according to Apollo. News of this shocked the entire godly world, and moved Zeus to act. Which is why he called on all of the big three to launch an all-out assault on the titans in their respective domains.

For the Underworld, the instructions were fairly straightforward, find and destroy the titan outpost in our realm, in other words (or rather dad's) "A complete and utter joke!"

"How the fork is he able to give insane orders like that with such nonchalance?" Father roared across the breakfast table with his mouth full of cereal.

I sighed from my own bowl of cereal, carefully picking out the honeyed ones. Father has never been one to act on the front lines.

"Father, please be sensible. Zeus would not have given the order if he did not think it was necessary. To be fair he also ordered Poseidon to take out Oceanus, and he's hunting down Krios as well. Besides, our task is most important of them all."

"Exactly my point, he's stretching us too thin. Besides, I don't see Tartarus next to the sky, we have the entire monster army in the pit to worry about. There is already a huge chunk of the Underworld cloaked from my senses, how are we supposed to find them in there? We cannot march an army in blindly."

"Which is why we have to take them out ASAP. The titan army grows stronger by the minute if we leave them be. Soon we will be facing an invasion at our gates, not to mention losing the war."

"Nico is right." Thanatos finally chipped in, "We need to act quickly, but still rationally. The region is under Iapetus's control, and he'll be waiting for us with traps and whatnot, probably an ambush. I say we split our forces, an expedition team to draw their attention, spring his trap, have them think it was our main assault."

"…Iapetus will swoop in, thinking he lured us in, and while he does so, "

"The main group will bag him." Father finished, "Not half bad, not even a quarter bad, if you get what I mean."

"Enough fun and games," Thanatos cut him off, "Now to make the bait convincing, and to ensure maximined survival for our advance force, we need an immortal in their ranks, someone powerful. And if I am not being straightforward enough, Lord Hades, I think you should lead the first group."

Father never looked as grim as he did. His eyebrows scrunched together as if he was trying to find a way out of this murder mission. But it was Persephone who spoke out against the proposal.

"Surely milord does not need to lead from the battlefield, there are too many variables, much too dangerous for a god as important as he is. There are other weaker, minor gods for this sort of mission. The titans would still take the bait should he not appear on the front lines. Even Nico could do the very same."

"Of course not, my queen. However, you perhaps do not get my point. Of course we have other deities take his highness' place on the field, but none would be as effective to protect our men out there. They are walking into a slaughter, and there have been whispers of us planning to use them as bait again. Some of the older ghosts still remember what happened in the first… I've said too much. Anyway, his highness' presence could boost morale and reassure the entire army as a whole." He silenced himself after father threw him a warning glare.

The first what? Titan War? Most likely. What else could have driven the gods to use their own troops as bait? But then, the thought sent a chill down my spine to realize the prosperity of the gods were built on these sacrifices. I could almost imagine what it must've been like for a soldier to march onto the field thinking it was nothing but a regular mission until everything went south, their commander absent, miles behind hiding in the comfort and safety of a fort.

I couldn't help but wonder when it would be my time to march onto such a mission. The gods did this before, they could do it again. They have been keeping something from me, perhaps next time it would be the size of the opposing army.

_But my father is not like that, is he not? He'll agree, wouldn't he?_ I gazed at his grim face, but discovered no sign of him bulging.

_No, he can't be that cold. Given time, he will see sense and lead! As the seconds passed, so did my conviction._ I wanted more than anything to wait for him to prove that he had a heart, but I couldn't, the undead army couldn't either. A tingling feeling crept its way to the back of my head: _what if I could have been just as easily abandoned? After all, she did, didn't she? _As quickly as the thought surfaced, I pushed it down_, father, he cared— cares about me, doesn't he? He'll march onto the field if I do, won't he? He has to, has to…_

"Father, I will lead the charge, but know this, I hope you would ride with me."

With that, I stormed out of the throne room to rally my troops, summoning my spear and sabre as I went.

Numidia had always supplied the Roman Army with the fiercest of horsemen, given the nature of the mission, I thought it befitting to call them, along with the British Light Brigades 17th lancers, 8th and 11th Hussars. All in all, just shy of sixty thousand cavalries. While infantry would probably last longer and do more damage, these horsemen would have an easier time getting out of the conflict once the trap is sprung.

I considered withholding the details of the mission, such as the entire using them as bait and probably getting them all killed part. Because this is the Underworld, and the soldiers have already died once before, if they fall in battle, that would be it. They would be erased from existence, leaving no trace but a pile of bones. No do-over means that the soldiers would be less enthusiastic about a suicidal mission. However, the words spilt out of my mouth nontheless.

"Men, we are leading the assault on Iapetus' forces. I will be honest with you, this is a dangerous mission, many of you will not be able to return." It pains me to inform my troops of their mortalty, even more to lie to them, push their buttons and get them riled up on some fake minotaur dung. "Whoever fears his fellowship to die with us please step forward. He will be excused and stay behind. The rest will march on, fullfill his duty and earn his greater share of honour!"

That successfully got the crowd worked up, shouts echoed throughout their ranks.

"We will follow you to the grave, sir!"

"Who fears death? We're already dead!"

I raised my hand to silence the yells, "I will take point. Now let's kill some titans." and lead the riders to the Fields of Punishment. To my relief, the cavalry had reacted how I hoped they would. Honestly speaking, if any of them stepped forward and demanded to stay behind, I doubt I would have allowed it. The words were nonsense to raise morale, which made it even more painful to utter them. The Hussars and Lancers were loyal to a fault, as they have demonstrated before.

Another reason I chose the Hussars is a naive little wish that maybe father would get the message.

He did. Soon after we rode past the palace gates, a lone rider pulled up beside me. "Surprised, son? So am I. Now let's kill some titans."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as my lips contorted to a tiny smile. _I knew he cared._


	12. Chapter 12

The Petroff Defense

There is a portion of the Underworld, in the dead center of the Fields of Punishment, that had recently become shrouded from my father's senses and mine. None of the scouts that wandered further than a few miles into its borders were ever seen again. So, we had absolutely no idea of where we were going except for Thanatos' vague (and in my opinion very unhelpful) advice ("Go west, duh!").

Father filled me in on our marvelous plan that is definitely _not_ going to get us all killed. It went something like this: find the titan base/trap, walk right into it and pray to stay alive until reinforcements arrive, preferably long after that as well. Thanatos waited just beyond the borders of the area with the rest of our armies, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

As we ventured in deeper into the region, our surroundings get more and more eerie. The Fields of Punishment had never been empty, not even in the first Titan War. Yet the torturing devices lay strewn across the fields with the occupants nowhere to be found. That unsettled me: this was titan-controlled land filled where the biggest mortal (not anymore though) god-haters in history were held and tortured… and those maniacs were gone, kinda gives you the chills, doesn't it?

After what seemed like an eternity of marching, fidgeting and constantly peering over our shoulders, we came to a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. "The Valley of Death", father had called it. The way he said it told me the place had an unpleasant history that he did not want to go into.

What really unsettled me was that all along the mountains were artillery pieces and ghouls, dug in deep into the trenches. There had to be hundreds of cannons on each side, with at least eight hundred thousand ghouls in total. Though the cannons were huge, I couldn't sense an ounce of metal within them, not even the cannonballs, which shone a poisonous green. Why would anyone coat cannonballs of that caliber with poison? The impact would kill any skeleton or demigod, in my case… unless they weren't gunning for the skeletons.

The look on father's face confirmed my suspicions. He was sweating profusely. "They're waiting for me. The cannonballs— they'll make immortals fade." He then proceeded to leave with a third of our riders, so much about standing together. I wanted to yell at him for being a coward, but it was not the time nor the place.

That Iapetus was smart. If father was taken out, the titans would have full control of the underworld, since Iapetus is the titan of mortality. It wouldn't matter if we destroyed their army, they could always get more from Tartarus.

However, that was not my biggest concern, there's no way the titans could set up a trap of this magnitude on such short notice. How could they know it was going to be father leading the assault? We only decided ten minutes ago, before that, nobody even thought about having him join the front lines. It only arose when… Thanatos brought it up.

It all makes sense now; he knew I would pressure father onto the battlefield. There was no way the bulk of our army could know our intents before we even thought up the tactics, unless he spread them. That's why he wanted to stay back with… THE REST OF OUR ARMY! Gods, he'll probably lead them into a ditch or another. Father is walking into a trap no matter which way he turns.

"You there, ride back and tell my father Thanatos is a traitor, he's walking into a trap, tell him quietly. NOW."

"Yes sir." The captain rode off after the small group as fast as his horse could carry him, which lest me to ponder our options. Judging by the looks of the titan ghouls, they were likely Russians and Cossack artillery men. They fought in the Crimean War and earned themselves a reputation of being a very ruthless army indeed, most of the men in my light brigades ended up joining our ranks because of them.

They were dug in on three sides of the mountains, heavily armed. So charging blindly in would not be an option, we'd be mowed down before we could even reach the closest guns. The original plan is dead as well, Thanatos probably slaughtered the all of our backup. Sneaking up onto them wouldn't help much, last I checked these bastards would even fire on their own if it meant hurting their enemy, besides, there are just too many of them.

Father rode back moments later with his third of cavalry. His face drenched in cold sweat. "S-son, you have a plan for this, right?"

I wanted to punch him in the face and yell at him that I was not some magical tactician guaranteed to win every battle and tell him to stop treating me like one. That would be satisfying but counterproductive. We only have a few moments to spare before the titans grow suspicious. We simply do not have the numbers if that happens. There was no way we could clear out that many ghouls, it's just not possible.

"You don't need to, just keep them occupied, I'll deal with the rest." Father added through gritted teeth. I wanted to ask how exactly, but he hurried off alone before I could say another word.

Okay, cannons on three sides, so no way I could walk up to them without having my butt blown off. Shadow travel doesn't work, they must've cast some sort of spell down here. Telekinesis then. No metal, so I'd need to find some other way to control them. If I could control one cannon and as soon as Iapetus shows his ugly mug… Although I doubt the ghouls would be so nice as allow me to point a cannon at their commander. But we don't have enough men to launch an assault…

Horses! I chose the cavalry so they could get out of the line of fire easily, not for how much damage they could deal in battle. If anything, infantry would last longer in battle. A plan formulated in my head.

Just as I barked out the final orders, a figure appeared atop the tree a few hundred yards out, literally, a second ago there was nothing there, and then, a wink later, there it was. No flash of teleportation or darkness from shadow travel, just poof- Ain't like anything I've seen before. Guy's probably some hotshot titan or another, someone big, probably a new player by the looks of it. Dressed completely in black, but not the standard scouts' kind. Another blink and the guy's gone. Uh-oh.

Sure enough, along came a conch horn from the distant mountainside where the ghouls stood. Before long, they started mobilizing. So much about our cover. Whatever, might as well start killin'.

"Now!"

Forty thousand riderless horses, all with Greek fire between their ribs and spears tied mounted forward, raced towards the lines of ghouls on all sides, from outside the pocket they'd formed. The roaring green flames gave the skeletal warhorses a terrifying aura. As if the flames were beating hearts driving them forward.

Amongst the chaos, I saw the same black-robed figure running towards the horses at inhuman speeds. So my suspicions were correct! This guy really is someone big. Running up to intercept him would not accomplish much since he is much faster and it would expose me to hostile and friendly fire. It's best to cause chaos in enemy lines, while sending a few squadrons in with shields and spears to bow this guy in. my bet this guy can't match the inhuman strength of the skeletons collectively.

The black-robed figure closed in on a lone horse galloping to the ghouls. I focused my mind on a cluster of ghouls close to one of the cannons. Sure enough he took the shot, after a slash too fast for my eyes to catch, the singled out stallion crashed to the ground and started burning green with Greek fire. Immediately after, the squadron of skeletons surrounded him and dismounted, quickly forming a wall of shields, their spear tips pointed right to the figure's chest. He tried ramming the wall but to no avail. As I have suspected, he was fast, nothing else. However, his speed was enough to keep him alive, the skeletons could not land a blow onto him despite their best efforts. Each time he would ram the wall and retreat before they could react, scooting just beyond their reach. The skeletons, well trained as they were, knew better than to break formation and attack. The stalemate went on.

On the far side of the battlefield, a few ghouls dropped dead abruptly as metal spikes protruded from their armor. The spikes, now as though sentient, slowly snaked their way to the cannon, curling onto the muzzle, others wormed their way into the cannonballs, creating a metal core in the center of each ball. However, that went unnoticed as the line of horses rammed their way into the line of ghouls, most impaling quite a few ghouls before they were cut down and exploded, taking out even more ghouls with them.

A quick glance told me the skeletal warriors were having a tough time with the blacked robed figure. After he realized he couldn't ram his way through the wall, he switched to destroying their shields. One skeleton already had half of his shield cut off. He ducked behind his comrades, who tightened their formation to fill the gap. They would keep him occupied for a while, though not for long.

Time for part two of the plan.


	13. Chapter 13

Rapid Development

Under the cover of darkness, Nico set out with a group of British Lancers and Hussars, the only ones who kept their horses, some six thousand men.

"Forward, the Light Brigade," Nico yelled. They charged for the guns, right into the elaborate trap Iapetus had set up. There were cannons to the right, left and in front of them, but they could do nothing but ride on, half a league at a time, half a league onward.

The darkness surrounding them quivered, it was hard to maintain a barrier so large over so long a period, his father Hades may have been able to do it effortlessly. But Nico on the other hand struggled to keep the darkness intact. He cursed under his breath, hopefully no one had noticed the flicker in the dark.

Someone did.

Deep within the ranks of the ghoul gunners, Iapetus grinned. He knew that his enemy would make such a desperate charge. What other choice did they have? He had them surrounded, their reinforcements all massacred. Even though they'd wiped out half of his army, they were still terribly outnumbered. All he had to do now is to take out his arch-nemesis and he would have free rein in the underworld.

To his delight, his greatest pawn had just gotten out of the predicament with the skeletons and is currently kneeling before him, waiting for orders.

"Uncle, I am sorry to have disappointed you. Please forgive my sloppiness."

The titan boomed with laughter, which sent a shiver up the kneeling figure's spine. His face contorted into a sadistic grin as he noticed it.

"Go kill him, NOW."

Nico continued riding. After the little incident with their cover he became more careful. The titans may have seen them but he wasn't that concerned with it. So long as the ghouls can't track where they were now, they cannot train their cannons at him, unless the ghouls send somebody riding into the darkness to mark their targets. But for that he had a countermeasure, he spread his senses to halt any foreign metal object within ten feet of the group. So, when he felt an unnaturally fast breastplate enter his barrier, he wasted no time in squeezing it as tight as he could. A sickening crack was heard over the galloping.

Before he had any time to celebrate the victory or even check on his kill, a volley of cannonballs was sent flying his way. The black-robed figure had blown their cover. The gunners, now with their exact position, fired the cannons with pinpoint accuracy.

The first one landed a few dozen yards away from Nico, completely shredding a skeleton as it whizzed past. The next one tore through their ranks, taking out an entire line of riders. The one after that came dangerously close to Nico as it whizzed into the captain next to him.

The brigade was rocked, stormed at by shot and shell. Shattered bones flew everywhere. What few shards that remain of the unfortunate skeletons quickly dissolved into green dust as a result of the poison.

Nico tightened his barrier of darkness, shrinking it to just surrounding himself. The shadows intensified into a vortex of blackness, well visible from miles away. This time it was not to hide, but as armor. The gunners already knew where they were, might as well tighten his defenses. The lancers with him, now left out in the open, were easy targets for the gunners on all sides, and were soon picked off dozens at a time. Still there was not a man dismayed. The Valley of Death soon lived up to its name as debris and bones littered the ground.

A cannon zeroed in on the vortex on the field, and spit out its payload.

Moments later, the cannonball slammed into the shadows and exploded on impact, leaving a crater in its stead. A figure completely covered in green poison flew out of the fireball and fell onto the ground, motionless. All at once, the few skeletons on the field collapsed into piles of bones, a few tumbling and rolling a yard or two before coming to a complete stop.

The glee on Iapetus' face was almost blinding. He'd won the battle again, just as he'd planned. Hades, his rival, after finding out about Thanatos' betrayal, was left with no choice but to lead the charge himself. Even if he'd turned around to fight Thanatos, he'd be trading in one trap for another.

Triumphantly, the titan held up his hand to cease the bombardment, and proceeded to stroll onto the field to check on his kill. His smile only grew as he walked closer to the fallen horseman. As he passed his fallen servant, he waved his hand impatiently to his men. "Resuscitate No. 41, I'll deal with _her _later." The ghoul quickly obliged and dragged the black robed figure from the field.

Shard of shadows lay strewn across the field around the crater. Even after death, the shattered darkness he conjured remained. A testimony to the fallen god's strength, Iapetus thought, but what help did it do? Here he was lying on the ground, dead as hell. Grinning, he turned Hades' corpse over.

Except it wasn't Hades', it wasn't even a corpse.

Although the mask covered most of his face, Iapetus could see that the figure resembled his rival, but he was a lot younger, with much less greasy hair. His breathing was even but Iapetus could feel the shivering coming from the boy. He recognized it to be Nico di Angelo, the little rascal his son Atlas fought on Mount. Tam. A cruel, sadistic grin crept onto the titan's lips, that kid's got no idea what kind of pain he's in for. The titan imagined what torture and humiliation he'll put the boy through, so much so that he forgot the disappointment of not getting to kill his arch-nemesis.

"Take the boy, bind and gag him. I want him paraded through the entire army."

As soon as the ghouls took over Nico there was a loud bang from across the valley. The same cannon that took out Nico fired again; this time aimed at Iapetus. The silver titan waved it off as a misfire and tried to flash away, _tried._ The shards of darkness scattered on the ground had regrouped and formed ropes that tangled themselves on his ankles. The last thing Iapetus saw was the small smile on Nico's pale lips.

The cannonball caught the titan right in the chest, he disintegrated on impact, as did his entire army, whose creator had faded into the void, leaving a golden ichor-stained crater in the middle of the valley. Moments later, all that's left was Nico… and the black-robed figure.

He stood up shakily, the cannonball sure packed a punch. Even though he'd slid in some metal to slow it down in addition to the shadows softening the blow, it still cracked a rib or two. That coupled with the constant concentration to strangle a titan, stop the poison from touching his skin and setting of a cannon a mile away, he was totally exhausted.

However, his job was far from done, the black-robed figure, whom he'd just learnt to be a girl, was lying face down a few dozen yards away from him. Though she remained motionless, Nico could feel life within her. His metal chokehold did not claim her a permanent place in the Underworld, for better or worse. He did not know what to feel about her. Resentment? Fear? Curiosity? Pity would be the right word. Here was a person, a warrior, who could match him in skill, in power, in cause, even in determination. A heroine, in every sense of the word, brought down low by the carelessness of her commanding officer. He knew full well of her mission in the battle, the bait, the sacrificed knight to win the exchange.

Isn't that what he was too? At the first sight of trouble, his _father _ducked away and left him to complete an impossible task, nearly impossible, but that's not the point. He said he had a plan, but isn't that what generals say before they abandon their troops? Nico hadn't seen hide nor hair of him even after the battle, the death god must've run off to hide. He understood his father's decision tactically, he was not as important as a major god, and he knew it. The Titans had them skewered and even though he would make the same choice and sacrifice himself, it didn't stop it from hurting. Tired, alone and probably wrong in the head, he decided to let the girl go free.

A cool splash of water woke No. 41 up, her golden eyes opened to a pale boy with dark hair and dark brown eyes. The visage of her enemy Nico di Angelo, she guessed, even though she'd never seen him without the mask before. Immediately she began assessing her situation. There was no fighting, so the battle was probably over. They were at the same valley but the ghouls were all gone, leaving empty trenches and cannons unattended to. As far as she could see, there were no other living beings except the boy in front of her. It was unlikely that her allies would leave without her or the artillery pieces so the only possible explanation is… her uncle was dead. They'd lost the battle. She calculated the chances of her getting out of the predicament. The boy was extremely thin, pale as a sheet, which suggests fatigue or it's just his natural state. Her bet was on the former. She had a broken rib or two, the overexertion of her powers had cost her most of her strength, so fighting was out of the question. She thought about making a run for it but quickly dismissed it as she couldn't possibly outrun di Angelo in this condition. That effectively ruled out all options of escaping.

Why would di Angelo wake her up in the first place? Last she checked the son of Hades would probably hate her guts enough to strangle her in her sleep or have her taken prisoner and tortured to death. This puzzled her. So when he saw Nico step closer, she tensed reflexively.

"Relax, I don't want to kill you. I -I just want to talk." He said as he took a seat beside her.


	14. Chapter 14

Bombardment

They were completely alone. What little company they had were the smoking cannons and the remains of armies. Something the both of them had grown accustomed to in the past… hour? The battle seemed to have lasted forever. Now, without the near constant yelling and explosions, the silent world was almost deafening to their ears. Another thing they were not used to? The person sitting right next to them: each other.

Nico didn't know what took over him when he decided not to kill his titan counterpart. That lady was ruthless, her stories, as he remembered, were incredibly gory and numbered in the dozens. As a soldier fighting for the Olympians, or as a semi-decent human being, he would, by logic or morality, kill her without a second thought. Hell, he could brand Atlas with his own armor, blast Iapetus into nothingness, even blow up entire ships of monsters and demigods without blinking, but he couldn't find cause nor will to hurt the person in front of him.

Now that she was awake, he didn't know how to start, this being the first time he actually initiated a conversation with anyone since… he couldn't remember. Nico began fidgeting, his hand reflexively reached into his pocket for a small figure. He was about to fish it out but decided at the last moment to drop it. After all, he's not the little kid who only knew how to play with toys anymore, and neither was she.

"What do you want?" Was her answer, adding to his embarrassment. In his struggle to find a good topic, his mind had wandered off again.

"I- I just wanted to know why you did it, the suicide mission." Nico managed to blurt out. He regretted it as soon as he'd said it, it was a silly question, and a very hurtful one at that, but it was the first thing that came to his mind.

"Why'd you take Hades' place then?" The girl retorted. "As we planned, it was Hades who was supposed to lead the charge."

"My powers are inconsequential compared to that of my father's, he would be much more useful in the coming war. It's tactics, like you don't lose you queen in the opening moves in chess." Nico bit his tongue; he had let slip his parentage. But it's the words that really hurt. It's one thing to think about it and another to utter them. As if saying his thoughts confirmed them, that he just wasn't that important to… family.

"We're both pawns, I take it?" The girl next to him leaned back, wearing an expression he was all too familiar with, one he was bearing now. The two shared a sigh. They were birds of a feather on opposite sides of the barricade. Another silence crept over them; this time much more comfortable.

"I wouldn't say that," Nico said with a small smile, "I'd say we're bishops, at the very least, or rooks."

"You have a funny way of thinking about terrible things," She replied with a smile of her own, "Knights before bishops, and you're riding a horse, a knight then."

"Agreed. You got the first move; may I assume you are the white knight?"

"I'd say yes, then we were playing the Russian defense. Let me guess, you were hoping for a draw."

"Yes, but look how it turned out."

Another sigh echoed between them as both began scheming.

"A fighter with your talents could get a pretty high position from where I come from."

"So I could take your place and become the new suicide squad? I think I'll pass, but you on the other hand, will benefit nicely on our side, I could see a promotion within a month, maybe colonel if you serve a year or two?"

"Alright, this clearly isn't gonna work for either of us, why don't we cut the minotaur dung and talk about something else?"

"Like what?"

Now that she mentioned, it occurred to him that he doesn't really know what he had to talk about. War was all he had trained for. Now, on the battlefield, with his enemy, he couldn't find anything else to say.

"Umm, you have a name, right?" Nico suddenly realized that he'd never known what to call her.

"No. 41" She said simply, without any emotion. Nico did a double take on that one.

"B-but that's not a name!" He stuttered.

"That's what they call me, isn't that what a name is? Something to call a person." 41 replied matter-of-factly.

"Of course that's not. Nobody ever bothered to name you? Parents? Maybe legal guardian?" Her head lowered on that. It hit a sore spot.

"I… I don't have any parents." The hurt in her golden orbs was evident.

"Where did you come from then? You have to come from somewhere. Your powers, speed without strength, that's not training, you can speed up time, right? So, you're Kronos' daughter, right?"

"Hold on there, you first, your parents. Since this is the underworld, I'm guessing you're Hades' kid?"

"I thought you already knew. Isn't it kinda obvious?"

"Not really, we know it's one of the big three, nobody's seen you fight and live to tell the tale. Except maybe Atlas, but he's still in a cocoon under the sky. Aren't you concerned that I may spoil your secret?"

"Not really, it'll builds my rep, besides, I have yours, daughter of Kronos. How does it work though? I mean, he's still reforming, isn't he?"

"That's one of life's mysteries, some magic and whatnot. Apparently, they tried like a hundred-something times, I was the 41st, and the only success. Anyways, that doesn't exactly balance things out, you could've killed me and not bother with my backstory altogether."

That sounded terrible, Nico thought, by the looks of how Iapetus treated her, she seemed more like a subordinate than a niece. It's not like one day, Kronos decided he liked kids (and not in the appetizer kind of way), and asked some fairy or another for a baby girl. She was an experiment, an experimental weapon.

"Yeah, but why would you still side with the titans? I overheard Iapetus talking to his men, sounds like you're not very… popular there?"

"I lost interest in what happens to me long ago. What happened or will happen to me is of little importance compared to what's at stake."

"So you're just gonna roll over and help the people torturing you? By the gods, that's crazy."

"Do you consider yourself a just person?" She turned to face him; her face dead serious.

That caught Nico off guard, "Yes, and a reasonable one. You can't—"

"What form of justice do you follow?"

"Utilitarianism."

"Would you have supported the gods should they treat you as Iapetus had with me?" 41 continued her bombardment of questions.

"No, clearly not. I don't know how you put up with this—"

"Do you think the gods are moral?"

"What?" Nico was having a hard time keeping up with 41, "Of course, but not if they—"

"Not if they what? Your _father _ran off because he was scared out of his pants and left you in charge of a suicide mission for all you know. How is that better than what happened with me? Admit it, you said you'd join the titans if the gods didn't give two craps about you, you ain't no utilitarian, you're a titans-damned hypocrite."

"Fair point, but at least Hades isn't going to have me drawn and quartered when I get back."

"So you're basing the fate of the world on how your _daddy_ pampers you, that's incredibly selfish."

"I'm not—" Nico stuttered. The way 41 phrased it sure made him seem like a self-absorbed a-hole. "I'm not. Atlas … Fine, I'm doing it for me. Atlas, that son of a chimera killed my mother. I'm vengeful. I'm – I'm a terrible human being." He carried on, no longer in control of his emotions, "I'm a gods-damned petty selfish vengeful piece of minotaur dung! Is that what you want to hear? I'm a terrible person."

The more he thought of it, the worse he felt. He'd always thought he was the good guy, the one who'd put everything on the line for his friends, his cause, his subordinates. All that came crashing down as he realized he was just as flawed as the gods and titans before him. Every ruthless thing he did in the name of his war, fell upon his own shoulders.

41 grew even grimmer, "Who told you that? Who said Atlas killed your mother?"

"What? Don't tell me you're gonna lecture me about that as well. I'm already miserable as it is."

"When was your mother killed? You were stuck in the Lotus Hotel, right? That was after your mother died, how long did you stay in there?"

"About seventy years, she … passed in the forties. What about it?"

41's face became ghostly pale, "The titans only start stirring in the 90s, Atlas got free last year, he couldn't have killed her."

Nico felt he was getting crazier by the moment: first, he volunteered for a suicidal mission against one of the most deadly and oldest beings walking the earth, next he decided to let a particularly powerful enemy walk free, and now here he was listening to said enemy blab about a past so distant he could not remember, a past that he based his new life on. The worst part of it? He was starting to believe her.

"Even if he or some other titan managed to muster enough power to create some giant lightning strike, strong enough to pass for Zeus' Master Bolt, and shatter Hades' defenses. Why the heck would they waste it on some chick Hades had his eyes on? No offense but she just ain't worth it. And why would they risk hitting you or your sister? You're a ticking time bomb for the gods. Heck, Kronos was even counting on you razing the gods when you reach 16. Someone has been lying to you."

That's when the first shell hit.

A distant boom echoed from across the underworld from the east. Soon followed by another, and another. Moments later, a comet trailing green fell out of the sky and landed a few hundred yards from the duo. From it more green gases spilled. Nico recognized it to be the same poison as that on the ghouls' cannons.

"It came from the Palace." Nico pointed at the trail of green smoke in the sky.

BOOM!

"No shirt, Sherlock. Your _father _really has faith in you. Guess he didn't think you'd make it."

There was another series of shots coming from the Palace.

"Shadow travel isn't working; he must have placed something that jammed all ways of teleporting." Nico dug around and found a glowing skull pendant lying next to one of his soldiers, "That must be it."

"Yeah, well all of your goons are wearing it, so I guess we're not going anywhere soon." 41 pointed at another group of riders all with the same pendant.

"I could get us out of here if we don't get killed for the next five minutes."

BOOM!

"Well, I might have something." 41 spread her arms out into the sky. Nothing seemed to happen.

"That's not helping!" Nico yelled. There was a green fireball sailing straight towards them.

"Stop distracting me and get to work."

Nico took her advice and decided to wing it. He knelt and put his hands on the ground, clearing out a tunnel in the earth.

The next three cannonballs struck a few hundred yards from them, the forth exploded right above them. Instead of blowing the two of them straight into kingdom come, it spread out sideways as if hit by an invisible barrier. "I froze time above us. The frozen air acts as a shield. They might as well drop nuclear bombs and we'd still be fine."

"DON'T YOU DARE JINX IT!"

Nico worked fanatically as he tore through rock and muck, the tunnel snaking deeper and deeper into the valley floor. The closest crater was at least twenty feet in depth, which means he'd need to tunnel deeper if he wanted to survive.

"Done yet? Don't bother with quality craftsmanship. My grandmother is … I don't know how old she is, but I bet she could've done better than that!"

"Do you want to NOT get incinerated or slap-dash construction?" Nico yelled back, "Because if I don't focus now, the thing's gonna cave in on us when we get in."

After an eternity, Nico hit the fifty ft. mark. "Jump in, but hold the shield!"

"It's not as easy as it seems." 41 grumbled, but obliged nonetheless. Nico slid in just after her and sealed the entrance behind them.

"That'll last for a round or two, but if father keeps it up, I'll need to keep digging."

As if on cue, the walls rumbled again.

Another fifty feet later…

"There," Nico sighed as he stuffed the tunnel back up. Sealing the pair in a tiny cavern a hundred feet underground. "Well, the cannons blew away thirty feet of dirt above us. That leaves seventy, assuming he launches another volley, we'll have forty feet of stone-reinforced-dirt to spare."

"How reassuring." was her sarcastic reply.

"Hey, I just saved your ungrateful hide, so zip it."

Now that the adrenaline's worn off, Nico felt the great need to take a nap, but he'd rather not do it in front of a demi-titan, especially one who tried to murder him a few hours ago. Exhausted, he threw his head back to lean against the wall. Thump! His back hit something hard, something he knew very well.

"What is a skull doing a hundred feet under the Fields of Punishment?"

Now that he readjusted his senses, the entire layer lit up in his mind.

Holy Mother, there were millions of them.


	15. Chapter 15

Skeletons

Another skull was found right next to the first, this one had half of its face blown off. Nico recognized it to be one of his father's skeletal soldiers, as it wore a helmet bearing his father's sigil. All around them were shattered bones, some even had metal shards etched within them. Nico recognized it to be the work of canons, the same that rocked the valley above.

"What happened here?" He muttered to himself.

41, now noticing his weird behavior, produced a flare from her pouch and lit it, she gasped at the sight.

On the ground were shards of charred bones, many looked like they had been corroded in some kind of acid. Aside from that, the dirt seemed greyer than usual. Tiny specks that resemble the color of the flesh tone of ghouls were scattered in the soil.

After the duo got over the shock of the entire skeletons-in-the-backyard thing, something else drew 41's attention.

"There's something over there," 41 pointed due west, "Can you dig that way?"

As they got closer, Nico could feel it as well, something powerful, ancient, and no longer vibrant… Something quite similar to the crater of Iapetus. The crypt of a fallen god. It had to be someone really powerful to radiate such energy even so long after death. The dirt was almost boiling with energy in front of them.

Soon, the soil turned a magical golden, the color of ichor. In fact, there was a circle of golden ichor-stained dirt shaped… as a crater. Nico estimated the remains to be roughly three millennia old, around the time of the first titanomachy. For some reason, Thanatos' words kept ringing in his ears.

"_Some of the older ghosts still remember what happened in the first…" titan war._ Could this be what Thanatos was talking about? A massacre that took out an entire army? It was a god buried in the earth and at least a million of skeletons and ghouls around him. As far as he knew, there were no ghouls in his father's service ever. Most likely they were fighting on opposite sides, this ancient god was ambushed, just as Iapetus had tried to do him. That would explain his father's odd behavior around the Valley of Death. The place was ground zero for another battle, fought millennia ago, one where a god faded.

"Is it what I think it is?" Breathed Nico.

"It's a titan," 41 confirmed, "Surrounded by a lot of your father's warriors and a good few ghouls as well, I guess your father pulled the same trick on him as well."

"Wait, a titan? No, it's a god." Nico corrected, "Trust me."

"No, there's titan blood in there, I can feel it. Calm your mind, do you feel the wrath?" Now that she said it, Nico did feel something eerie about the crater. No wonder it was so powerful, there were two deities in the mix. But how 41 could sense titan blood miles away, that was beyond him.

"What do you think happened here?" She asked. Her eyes still fixed on the golden earth before them.

That was a good question, what did happen here? A titan and a god blown to kingdom come, surrounded by two armies. Back then, they're not likely to be best buddies in a war. They were blown up by immortal killing cannons. Not exactly peaceful, probably a battle.

"Same thing that happened above." They muttered at the same time.

"Was that your guess or do you actually know that?" Nico inquired.

"Wild guess, I thought you knew. I wonder why nobody ever told us about this."

"Well, it could incite hate and fear among the soldiers, make them more loyal and fight harder. If it were up to me, I'd have it plastered on every wall."

"Propaganda, good thinking. However, neither the gods nor the titans told anyone about it. Which means either the gods and the titans all lost their brain cells, or, there's more to the story."

"Probably because neither would like to admit they sent one of their own on a suiside mission?"

No wonder they didn't release the details of the mission. A suicide mission and firing on their own troops? That'll tank trust in commanders quicker than anything. And now, Nico wondered if he should tell anyone about this particular mission. Hell, he didn't even know how to feel about it himself. His own father fired the shells above the ones that would've killed him, had he not spared his unexpected friend. Even though Hades might not have known he was alive, he still sent him on a mission that he assumed would prove fatal. As much as he refused to believe it, Hades wasn't a good leader or parent. It's not that his father didn't love him, he does, it's just that there were other things of greater importance. Nico was in turmoil, he never thought his father would straight out lie to him. Sure, he kept him out of the discussion on the Olympian Counsel, but that's it, that was where he drew the line. And it didn't help with the near constant whispering of 41.

"See, the gods didn't give a damn about you. Your own father sent you on a mission even he thought was suicidal, so he bombed the entire valley you were in. See the gods, they and their immortality, is paramount to them. Now see here, we have—"

"You ain't got nothing!" Nico finally cracked, "You ain't got nothing, you hear me? The titans ain't no better than the gods. Remember how I found you? You were lying face down on the ground from a suicide charge your _uncle _ordered. Your _father_ didn't give two craps whether you lived or died, he made you as an experiment, a bunch of chemicals and whatnot that happened to produce a little baby weapon. You know what that makes you? Disposable! Easy to toss aside. He ain't have to do anything to have you cower before him. That's why he threw you to Iapetus, your own uncle, a sadistic dirtbag. The titans aren't any better. You ain't better off than I am. So don't walk around acting like you are!"

After his screaming rant, Nico proceeded to sit down against the wall, with his face buried in his arms and curled up into a ball. He had wanted to let it all out for quite some time now. The yelling, though satisfying, also took a toll on him. Before he could shy away from the truth, drown himself in training, pretend that he did not see the signs. He became the perfect son and soldier, obedient, diligent, cold and loyal to a fault. Hoping that if he did his part, his father would shower him with love and care in return. He even went out of his way to be nice to Persephone, put up with the bland gardening lessons. Yet he still fell short. He knew that long ago, yet he didn't believe it. Saying it somehow breaks the magical spell and now he is exposed to the cold hard truth. His father really abandoned him, like his sister.

Tears began streaming down his cheeks in beads. Nico snatched the Mythomagic Hades figure from his pocket and held it to his chest. He was alone, _again_. How could he be so useless, so worthless? His sister loved him, but had more important things in life. His father kinda loved him, but he too had more important things. Nothing had changed. He was still the little boy in the woods, still the useless gods-damned little boy in the woods, shedding tears himself with that worthless gods-damned toy.

41 sat beside him, silent. She was quite taken aback by Nico's sudden outburst, really. She was prepared for yelling, silence, even a punch to the gut. But this was honestly unexpected. She was a hundred something years old (courtesy of Father Time), and she never allowed herself to cry. Normally, when she encountered some scaredy-cat new recruits, she'd punch them in the face and tell them they were cowards to cry. That was not the case with the kid in front of her. He'd seen a lot, trained probably as hard as she had, carried himself as a soldier. He'd even took on multiple titans without even getting much of a fright. Heck, this was a guy who had reached such heights that he casts a shadow of shame over all those around him by virtue of meritocracy. How could someone so strong cry so vulnerably?

41 reached over clumsily to pat Nico on the back. But as soon as her hand touched him, he shot up, suddenly self-aware that he had cried in front of a random stranger. He snuffed out the flare and enveloped himself in darkness, unwilling to show this embarrassing naive side of himself.

After who knows how long the sniffs grew less frequent and Nico blew his nose.

"What do you fight for then?"

His voice was raspy from the sobs, making him sound even huskier.

"What do you fight for then?" He asked again, noticing that 41 had zoned out staring at him in the dark.

"The people." she replied simply. "Utilitarianism, remember?"

"And you think you know best?" Nico blew his nose, finally sitting up a bit.

"Well, I for one thing have nothing to gain in the war, and nothing to lose. That makes me impartial."

"And you think the titans are the best choice?"

"Who said anything about that? I think the world would be best without immortals altogether."

"Huh?" Nico snorted, 41 was sounding even crazier. "And you're gonna do something about it?"

"Yup, not only me. Many other demigods are plotting the same thing. Luke, for instance is planning to take over. I don't exactly agree with him on that matter though, but he would be an ally."

"And you're telling me this why?"

"I think you have seen things, the injustice. And I think you're someone who could see sense in this. You're lost, you no longer know what to believe."

"How would you know?"

"The fact that you did not kill me in the valley." In the darkness, Nico could see her sly smile, "You do not want to hurt me, which means you are not some brainless puppet of the gods.."

"Yeah? What if I was planning to get information from you and kill you later?"

"Then I'd die, might as well get all buddied up with you. Maybe you might put in a few good words with the Underworld judges." She joked. "Besides, you just confirmed it."

"I'm not going to be a part of it, do you hear me?" Nico stated flatly, instinctively in his father's defense, "You and your revolution nonsense, why would I help? I am not going to betray my father."

"Well, you don't know what the immortals have been keeping from you," 41 winked, she had a remarkable talent to converse dead serious topics with an almost playful attitude. "Besides, it's not like the gods care about you either, what do you think is going to happen to you after the war? My guess is that it's not going to be pleasant."

"That's not true, father does care about me. He — he trained me, pulled me out of the hell after my sister left."

"Really? And when is your birthday again?" 41's innocent smile seemed almost menacing in the dark, Nico shuddered but met her charge head on.

"I will turn 16 next year on June 15, but don't tell me haven't figured that out yet."

"Oh, no, not that boring date, I'm asking about the day you were born, the day you have cake and blow out candles on."

Nico fell silent, he never recalled such a day. After his new life, he never had time to celebrate anything, only then that he realised that he had nothing to celebrate. His birthday was long forgotten even before his new life, he had no memory of it, not even the memories his father salvaged from the Lithe shown anything of that matter. No, his birthday had been lost, what remains is yearly reminder of a deadline on June 15th.

"But what about you, when's your birthday then?"

"That's the beauty of the thing, I don't have one, which means as far as I'm concerned, every day is my birthday, until I decide otherwise."

"When will that be then?"

"Someday when I accomplish something great. Something that defines who I am. I'll know it when I do it."

"If you were so bold, then why not ask your old man about it?"

"Here's the thing," 41 leaned in, "I do not define myself from my lineage, I shall decide who I am, NOT my biscuit of a father. For you… you are a different case. When you decide to grow a pair, ask Hades about your birthday."

With that she flashed away, wearing a mischievous smile.


	16. Chapter 16

Fragile

41 was right, Nico didn't have a pair, metaphorically speaking, of course. He could not acknowledge the bombardment on the Valley of Death, heck, he couldn't even muster the courage to ask about his own birthday.

Given the events of the day, he would expect himself to be fairly angry at his father, but, oddly enough, Nico could not bring himself to confront him. As if by some miracle, if he does not acknowledge the abandonment, the bombardment, they would all blow away like a long nightmare on a sunny morning. He couldn't push his father away at this point. Who else did he have anyways? No mother, no sister, not even the friends from his quests bothered checking on him. He wondered what they were doing at the moment, probably having fun at some campfire, singing all those hideous songs. Heck, he doubted if any one of them even remembered his existence… they had drifted away in time. What if he confronted his father, would he drift away as well?

When Nico recovered from his musings, he shook his head, trying to clear his mind of all the loose ends. He had been zoning out quite a lot recently, with his mind leaping from one thought to another, even the briefest exchange of words would leave him poundering.

_Since when did the great hero of the underworld become such an insecure little brat? Since when did he start to concern himself with the opinions of others?_ Nico chidded himself, _when had I become like that? _Finding no answer in the darkness, he too disappeared from the cavern.

He appeared atop a hill overlooking the Valley of Death, an apt description of its current condition. The place was littered with craters still steaming from pools of immortal-killing poison. Charred bones scattered among gray dust created a virtual duple of the cavern below. Barren and desolate.

Taking a moment to survey the battlefield, Nico breathed in the cold dense air of the Underworld, and gathered the will needed to make his way down into the valley.

The smell only worsened up close, the scene more hideous, but Nico took no notice of it. He had only one objective. Approaching a pool of poison, he slowly drew the molten cannonball from the crater, forming it into a ghostly green dagger. He had no idea why he would need such a weapon, but he had a feeling it would be his last chance of ever laying hands on the poison.

The sizzling metal hissed at the contact with Nico's, he could almost imagine what effects it would produce on his skin.

Carefully, Nico carried the dagger to just on the outskirts of his father's palace, as close as he could risk. Gently, he buried his new weapon in a freshly dug hole before making his way into the palace.

Quite thankfully, Hades regarded Nico's return with a curt nod but remained silent. The two stared at each other for a moment, neither knowing what to make of the reunion. After a more than awkward period of silence, Nico walked upstairs and the matter was not mentioned again.

Nico dropped the question about his birthday.

The days past quite uneventfully, both Nico and Hades kept at their duties but their conversation was at a minimum. Thankfully, after Iapetus' demise the control of the Underworld fell solely upon Hades, who spent considerably more time on his duties, and to Nico's relief, away from him. While neither had been avoiding each other to maintain a facade of normality, they could both feel the uncomfortable silence that fell upon them whenever they met at the breakfast table, and ran on over the course of the day every time the two encountered. Nico didn't know how his father felt about this invisible barrier, but he sure as hell was feeling the burn. Despite his best efforts, his father was drifting away, and so was he.

To some extent, he was pretty relieved when he got the mission away from the Underworld, and he could tell his father was as well. There was almost a collective sigh of relief when Hades approved Nico's request to journey beyond the Underworld and investigate on decreased monster activity in the world above.

Once again, Nico was awed by the sudden appearance of the light. It was as if his time in the Underworld had been an eternity. Shakily, Nico took a deep breath and revelled in the feeling of brisk, open air; he had shadow-travelled into a monster-infested forest.

The woods were thick enough to conceal even the most giant of all monsters, but was eerily empty. There were numerous campsites left abandoned, bonfires occupied only by cold ashes, lonely tents standing at attention in the middle of clearings. Those monsters left not in a hurry, but left behind most of the bulky belongings, which puzzled Nico. He moved slowly, careful so as not to stumble into any caravan of monsters. He didn't like the eerie feeling the forest was giving him, it was as if something dark and ancient was lurking in the midst of those twigs and branches.

Five minutes later, he caught sight of some fifty cyclopes, a family pack, most probably, with two or three wee ones, who raced around the campfire with their thundering paces. Upon further reconoscence, he counted forty-six full grown cyclopes and three young ones, making a total of forty nine hostiles. They were in a makeshift camp, at least by his standards, complete with an abandoned watchtower, making them an easy target. But Nico was determined to investigate the absence of monsters, this particular group seemed almost ready to leave, and the older cyclopes were scurrying about, breaking camp.

Ducking under the shadows of bushes, Nico crawled as close to the camp as he could risk, just within earshot of an extremely loud female cyclops.

"MOVE IT! WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE AN HOUR AGO! AND TOMMY, STOP HITTING TIMMY!"

"BUT MOM, I'M TOMMY, HE'S TIMMY" Came another gruff voice, presumably Timmy, although this one was a bit higher pitched, in a sort of whiny tone that sounded hilarious. Nico realised this to be one of the younger cyclopes.

"TIMMY, GET OFF TOMMY BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF!"

"COME ON, MOM, I WANNA HAVE SOME FUN!"

"ENOUGH FUN AND GAMES, GO AND GATHER YOUR TOYS, WE ARE LEAVING!"

Nico listened through another few minutes of trivial conversation, although his mind had wandered off. He wondered if that's how normal families behaved, whether his mother ever chided him with love and care. _I guess some people just don't get to have that kind of loving family, huh? _He thought to himself, as a tight cold feeling gripped his heart. _I didn't even know I could feel that way, shouldn't have this heart of his gone numb over these years?_

"... ALRIGHT! TO THE LABYRINTH! DEMIGODS HERE WE COME! AND TIMMY, STOP BULLYING YOUR BROTHER!"

"I'M TOMMY!"

The Labyrinth! So that's where the monsters had been going. Nico had an uneasy feeling that these cyclopes were the least of the demigods' worries. The maze had been notoriously difficult to navigate, but if the monsters found a way to Camp Halfblood, they would overrun the demigods, as almost every one of the monsters on the East Coast had disappeared down the maze.

Nico followed the cyclopes at a distance, not really paying attention to where he was going. Only when he noticed that his surroundings went dark did he realise that he had gone underground. Immediately, Nico felt the familiar feeling of being in his element. The labyrinth was his playground, he could sense where each passage lead, and how many monsters there were in each.

_I must warn father,_ his hand reached for the comms earpiece in his belt but stopped halfway. The word father stung him, during his brief time away from his father, he felt a little bit better, but every time his mind drifted to the matter, it still feels... awkward. He just wasn't ready to speak to his father again. His hand rested on the small earpiece for a moment, two, before finally leaving.

_If I could stop the attack before it reaches camp, then I wouldn't need to speak to father. There aren't that many monsters, plus they aren't going anywhere soon. I can finish them off before anyone notice._

Satisfied with his conclusion, Nico set off to track down the closest groups of monsters.

His attacks were flawless, the tunnels bent to his will and the darkness shielded him. Few monsters even realised his existence before being cut down. To his surprise, there were far fewer monsters in his vicinity, far fewer than he had expected. Either they had already met their demise in the Labyrinth or they were far closer to Camp Halfblood than he had thought. Nico contemplating contacting his father.

_Could I have been wrong? No, there is no turning back now. I have the situation under control, the other monsters are already dead._

Slowly, Nico stalked a group of cyclopes, the last group of monsters, the last ones he could sense, at least.

Even from afar, he could hear the clamor and disorderly yells of the gang, of them, one voice rang louder than the rest.

"TIMMY, GET OFF TOMMY NOW!"

"I'M TIMMY, HE'S TOMMY!"

"JUST STOP FIGHTING BEFORE I DISCIPLINE BOTH OF YOU!"

Nico felt a pang of guilt for attacking a community like this. His spear, that had pierce so many monsters over the day, felt heavy in his hands.

_I need to finish the mission, no monster is allowed to set foot on Camp Halfblood! But one or two cyclopes wouldn't matter that much would they? I could tell them to stay away from camp, that would be fine, would it not?_

A series of gasps stopped the clamoring hall, which was now covered in a layer of fine golden dust.

By the dim torchlight, Nico could make out three shivering figures, struggling to comprehend the massacre of their kin. The older cyclops held her children tightly in her arms, not that it would stop a spear, but to provide some final comfort, even if it was just for a moment.

But the spear did not come.

"Get out of the Labyrinth, and never come back."

Finally recovering from the shock, the little cyclops, turned his teary eye to Nico's looming figure.

"YOU KILLED UNCLE TIMOTHY! YOU KILLED UNCLE TIMOTHY!"

"HUSH, TIMMY!" screeched the mother, before turning to Nico apologetically, "Please let my children go, they are harmless, please, you don't know what it's like down there."

"YOU KILLED UNCLE TIMOTHY!" Timmy made a lunging motion, but was held back by his brother, who looked at him pleadingly, urging him to stop the shenanigans. But Timmy precisted. "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FOR THAT!"

Nico had no idea who this Uncle Timothy was, probably one of the other cyclopes he killed earlier. He must've been a pretty good guy, to have the children react like that to his death. It reminded him of his mother, how she had been taken away from him. He felt bad taking the little cyclopes' family away. All the more reason not to cause further distraught.

"I've killed enough today, get out of here."

"LISTEN TO HIM." the mother urged, "THANK YOU, KIND SIR. THANK YOU FOR SPARING US." she sounded as sincere as she could, but her eye betrayed her true feelings: they were filled with pure venom.

"NO, HE KILLED UNCLE TIMOTHY! I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"

"NO, YOU HAVE NO CHANCE AGAINST HIM. HE'S THE ONE WHO TRAPPED YOUR FATHER IN TARTARUS!" 

That caught Nico off guard, "What do you mean?"

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO KILLED IAPETUS, RIGHT? YOU SEALED OFF TARTARUS!" The mother seemed provoked, as if realising her sorrow had been grossly overlooked by her tormentor.

Nico was at a loss for words, he had absolutely no idea that his victory over Iapetus had such implications. He knew that his father had full control of the Underworld, he was fully aware that the rest of the Titan Army would have a tough time escaping the pit. However, this, breaking up families and hurting the powerless, he was not prepared for. Had his father told him that monsters would no longer plague the mortal world, he would have felt better. But finding out through the victims of these broken families, that was a little too much. He had always thought himself to be cold and ruthless, but only to the strong, deep down he harbored a soft spot for the weak, and now, the spot ached.

As if sensing his moment of agony, the little cyclops, Timmy presumably dove towards him with a small dagger in his hands, followed swiftly by his mother, who struggled to hold the little one back, screaming at the top of her lungs.

It was too late.

Reflexively, swung his spear towards his assailant, and the next thing he knew that he was facing a pile of golden dust along with a wide eyed Tommy.

"Mother? Brother?" He reached out fanatically to grab the ashes of his family, but they blew away through his stubby fingers, away, into the darkness. All that remained was the small toy dagger of his deceased brother, which he clung close to his chest.

"Come back please…"

Nico didn't have the stomach to kill Tommy, he left him alone in the maze while he carried on his trek to Camp Halfblood. After the events of the day, he had lost the will to hunt down any more monsters.

He strolled absentmindedly through the maze, slowly making his way to Camp, trusting his senses to lead the way.

Boy, was that a mistake.


	17. Chapter 17

Capture

Nico had been so distraught with his encounter with the family of cyclopes that he wandered right into the Titan Army. Well, a more apt description would be that they snuck up on him， somehow.

"THERE HE IS! I TOLD YOU SO." A familiar huff voice, it was the cyclops, Tommy. He sounded less whiny from their last encounter, with a hint of determination in his tone. Nico shook his head, when will he learn? That was a monster he just let loose, and not ten minutes after, he betrayed his location to the Titan Army. _Maybe monsters would remain monsters after all_, he thought to himself as a group of Dracaenae dragged him off in chains, _maybe we are who we are_.

The Dracaenae made no haste in parading him through the monster ranks, as if showing off their new catch. They walked for a few dreadful minutes, passing entire halls stuffed with monsters of all sorts. There were just so many of them, it appears that the entire Titan Army had been marching towards Camp Halfblood. There was just no way for Nico to take care of it himself, he was regretting his decision not to inform his father.

_But how am I going to tell him that? Surely I can't just say that I didn't want to talk to him. What do I do?_

He felt terrible in the shackles, not just because of his misplaced gambit, the cuffs appeared to be enchanted, as he couldn't control the metal with his powers, nor could he sense anything, at all. His connection with the underground was completely blocked by some magic, it was like having his nose stuffed, and his ears plugged in.

His guards escorted him to a pair of grand doors, beyond them Nico could hear some very loud clamoring. Cheers and boos both high and low echoed throughout the halls. One of his guards gave him a dirty look, as if saying "Don't try anything stupid, we got our eyes on you." before slipping into the chambers behind the doors.

Nico wasn't very concerned with what the monsters were planning to do to him. This was the Titan Army, and, being the prophecy child, he was their best shot against the gods. There was no way that they would kill him. But what they would do to Camp Halfblood, that worried him.

The same snake lady appear from behind the doors with a huge smile. She spoke to the other guards in some hissing language and proceeded to tug Nico into another smaller door further down the hall.

It was a dark room with another set of grand doors, leading to original clamoring chamber. There were a few weapons in the small dark room, some rusty spears, swords and nets, the classic gladiator set. But there was no one there, Nico had a bad feeling that he would be joining the fighting pits soon.

A few minutes later, Luke Castellan entered the room with his Dracaenae bodyguards.

"It's really uncomfortable, you know, in these restraints." Nico broke the silence between them. "But I assume you've seen worse, with that kind of a fall on Mount Tam, I am surprised you didn't crash straight into the Underworld."

"I don't really need your sass, di Angelo. I hope we will be able to converse as two intelligent demigods." he paused, casting a dirty look at Nico, "As for the restraints, given your power, I had to take certain… precautions, I would be a fool to underestimate the killer of Iapetus."

"You flatter me." Nico eyed Castellan carefully, "I assume you are not here to laud our legendary feats?"

"I am not," Castellan agreed, "We have more important matters to discuss than stories past. I am here for the future." he paused for a moment, "The era of the immortals is coming to an end, you need not join the gods in their demise. Take my side, and we will rule the Earth as gods."

Nico stood in silence for a moment, taken aback by the audacity of the proclamation, but he quickly regained his composure. "You said the gods will die, who are we to rule as gods then?"

"In the absence of immortals, we demigods rule. You felt the surge in your powers when Iapetus died, right? One less share to the sweet power, imagine what would happen when all the immortals of death perish. You will have the sole claim to the Underworld. But that is superfluous, we do not even need to lift a finger to force the mortals into submission, the monsters, given free reign, should accomplish that for us."

Nico tensed when Luke mentioned his power surge, he hadn't told anyone about it, not even his father. Luke had certainly done his homework, the mere thought of it gave Nico chills. He drew a deep breath, and changed the topic. "That was not my question, I need a cause, not a means."

"I see you are not one who would settle for such simplistic answers. Fine. We demigods, we have given up so much for the gods, for the world. We are the warriors standing between the world and destruction. We give protection to those who require it. Think of it as a contract, protection for a small price."

"Shouldn't you make the cause sound better if you want somebody to join you?"

"Of course, it isn't that bad, the Spartans did it before, so did the majority of the medieval lords. You see, I'll be frank with you, I don't think you are one of those people who would be swayed by great promises or honeyed words. You, if I may, are reasonable. We are much alike, you and me." Nico was about to object to Luke's praises, but he was on a roll, "Therefore, I'll lay out all the facts, and I hope you will see sense."

"I doubt that, but you have avoided answering my question. You are ruling like the gods. What makes you think you can rule the world while the gods cannot?"

"You are a sharp one, aren't you?" Luke smiled, and for a moment, he didn't seem like he was interrogating a prisoner or converting a new follower, instead he became a friend. The smile made Nico lose focus for a moment, before Luke's soothing voice pulled him back into the world, "We have given up so much for the world, we fight monsters, to protect the mortals, we do it to defend the gods, and now we do so to aid the titans. They used us, knowingly, or unknowingly, they made servants out of all of us. All I demand is our freedom."

"And how does that translate to ruling the world?"

"We do not have to protect anyone, the ones who want it would have to obey our will and those who don't will be mopped up by the monsters." Nonchalance, as if he wasn't concerned with the lives of countless others. "We do not risk the lives of good people in vain." his face contorted into a snarl at this point, as if recalling a horrific memory, something that still plagues him in dreams, that still fills him with outrage and despair. "You are a good person, you need not risk your life for terrible people. Join me."

Nico stared at him, "What happened to you?" There was no way an idealist like Luke would spontaneously descend into such extremity. Something bad, something traumatic must've happened to the poor soul.

"Life, of course, life of a demigod." Luke smiled, not one one of those reassuring smiles, no. It was a sad little smile, as if to hide the sad truth that he alone had to endure. "You've lived it, have you not? In the Battle of the Underworld. The pain, the betrayal when you realise that help wasn't coming, it will never come? The gods simply do not give a dam about you."

"No, they do give a dam about me. But it is strategically—"

"But it still means they don't give a dam about you, not enough to mess up their own chances of survival."

That was the forbidden thought that plagued Nico in his dreams, the one that terrifies him whenever it arises. He was at a loss of words, unable to reply to Luke's prompt.

"You want to prove that your father cares about you, you are selfish, not that it is a bad thing, but the opinions of others should not concern you, especially not your worthless father's."

"Isn't that a little too selfish?"

"Are you sure you are not, though? What do you seek? Your father's praises? His recognition? His love? Face it, the only thing that keeps you from joining me is your pathetic wish to be acknowledged by your father."

"But I think I am right, although my motivation may be dubious, but my actions will be just." Nico was losing ground in the argument, "My way is better for this world, not yours."

"Oh, are you?" Luke smiled, "Are you? First off, don't even act like you give a dam about the greater good. You don't. The only incentive for you to do anything rests on making you feel better. And, are you truly better for the world?"

"Yeah!"

"Would you or would you not sentence innocent demigods to death?"

"No."

"But if we do not take control of the world, the gods, or the titans, whoever triumphs, will allow monsters to roam the world, and believe me, they will kill—"

"You don't know that."

"No, you don't know that. You are the sole child of your father, you are the prophecy child, everything you see is designed, no directed, like a movie, by the gods so that you will make the choice they want. I saw their dark side because they didn't bother to play pretend around me. I lost—" Luke wasn't addressing Nico any more, his eyes had lost their focus on something far away, something that haunted him. He took a deep breath from his rant, before finally looking Nico in his eyes. "You are naive, terribly so. You don't see the dark side of the gods. We do. We are the consequences that the gods disregard."

There was a long period of silence, Nico took the chance to gather his thoughts. He knew there was something wrong with the Olympians, hushed war meetings after he left the room, shadows when he carried out missions, even the vague briefings that seemed tailor fit for him. But he never thought the whole thing could be about the Great Prophecy. He never thought the love that he so desperately clung to could be because of the accursed prophecy.

"You feel it too, don't you," Luke smiled, Nico wondered if he had the ability to read minds, his eyes seemed to be staring down into his soul, and for once, Nico felt this eerie exposed feeling. "That would be enough for one day." Nico thanked the heavens for the end to his interrogation, he was running out of words and determination. "I will release you after you complete a task for me, well, you don't really have much of a choice."

The chains binding Nico fell slack, but his shackles remain, he tried shadow-traveling away, but to no avail. Luke grinned at his discomfort, "You are going to clear a path to Camp Halfblood for me."

Nico had no idea why the Antaeus guy wanted with him, Luke stepped out of the room to give some speech or another, and the next thing he knew, he was rudely shoved into the arena, facing the angry giant.

Antaeus regarded him smugly, he held no weapon but Nico knew he didn't need one. He was easily ten feet tall, with arms as thick as tree trunks, and a surly ugly mug. It was hard not to mark him for a wrestler given how he held his stature. Nico bit his lips, if he remembered correctly, the guy was the son of Gaea and Poseidon, which meant he would be invincible on the ground. With the shackles limiting his powers over darkness, Nico is left with few options.

Slowly, he drew his spear from the shadows.


	18. Chapter 18

Open File

Nico eyed Antaeus warily. There was no way he could overpower the giant at close range, a single blow would mean certain death. The best shot Nico had was to inflict as much damage at long range, before moving in for the kill. How he was to put the giant down, he did not know.

Nico carefully circled the giant, who did not seem wary of him at all, he had his arms crossed and his face in a snicker. Nico dashed in, and as he expected, the giant leaned down to meet his charge. Nico dodged Antaeus' grab for him and stabbed the giant in the face, before pulling away, leaving the giant howling in pain, swinging his arms around blindly to keep Nico away.

Immediately, the earth rose in slender tendrils along Antaeus' torsal, and filled in the bloody hole in the giant's face. Within moments, the tendrils stopped and there was no sign of the wound. The giant was completely unfazed, although a lot more murderous.

Antaeus leaped forward, ready to crush Nico with his weight, Nico sidestepped and stuck his spear into the giant's side. But before he could pull the tip out, Antaeus turned and yanked the shaft out of his hands. Again, the earth rose in tendrils to seal his wound. And again, the giant swung his arms around to drive Nico away.

Nico retreated and unsheathed his sword. Looking at the rising giant, he formulated a plan.

When Antaes rose charge again, Nico met him with a swipe for his arms, and before the giant could react, he sliced his legs from under him. Antaeus gave a panicked yelp at this encounter. He fell to the ground with a loud thud. As usual, the earthen tendrils started to heal the giant's wounds, but he was defenseless this time, without his whirling arms in the way, Nico rushed over to the fallen Antaeus, and using all his might.

He lifted him from the ground.

The limbless torso writhed and wriggled in his arms, but he held firm. Antaeus' reduced weight was nothing compared to the weight of the sky. Slowly, the earthen tendril, unable to reach their wounds, begin to wither away and dissolve. And slowly, the giants' struggling grew weaker, before finally crumbling into a pile of dust.

The once clamoring arena fell deathly silent.

CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. Nico turned to find the clapping Luke, who was grinning like a madman.

"Well, I have to say I expected no less from the prophecy child." Luke's tone bore no hint of a praise, he stared down upon Nico who returned the glare, "perhaps you would be more entertaining when fighting someone… more interesting."

Luke snapped his fingers, and the shackles bounding Nico's wrists fell away. Nico felt the familiar feeling of the underground return. He stared at Luke suspiciously, there was no way he would deliberately let him loose, especially not in his element. But Luke merely grinned and gestured to the other end of the pit. Nico turned to find the grand doors opposite the arena open and out stumbled three dazed demigods.

Nico could recognize Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase from the trio, the last one was an asia demigod with an black cloth covering his left eye. The guy wore dust stained gladiator armor that were two sizes too big for him. Nico could not feel any energy from the demigod, so he assumed he was a minor one. The trio seemed tired but otherwise unharmed.

"You! You expect us to kill each other?" Percy, now coming back to his senses, jagged a finger at Luke, who was already making his way out of the arena, taking three quarters of the monsters with him. He didn't reply, but Nico could imagine the smirk behind his turned back. That triggered him "Hey, come back and fight us yourself," Percy, not one to be ignored, yelled again, "You yellow bellied coward! Get back here..."

Nico waited for Percy to stop his incessant stream of insults (which lasted ten minutes after Luke had left), before surveying the arena. The monsters that were left were incredibly quiet, they had the decency not to boo and endure the ten minutes of swear words directed to their boss. Many of them carrier bows and quivers: _they were there as guards. _Nico concluded, _but whether they were up to the task is up for debate._

"When are you going to stop cursing and start thinking how we are going to get out of here?" Annabeth's voice was a bit too loud for Nico's liking, she sounded raspy, and for some reason, Nico found her tone unnecessarily whinny.

"That was not cursing, I did not say a single bad word and—"

"Enough, who's the new kid?"

"Oh, right, Ethan, Nico. Nico, Ethan." Percy gestured at the one-eyed demigod. "Anyways—"

"Talk later," Nico grabbed their shoulders and the four demigods disappeared from the arena. Not a moment too soon, seconds later, the pit collapsed on itself, burying all the monsters in it.

The four demigods landed just outside the entrance of the Labyrinth in Camp Halfblood, Nico on his feet and the others on all fours, all of them throwing up.

"What the Hades was that?" Percy managed between breaths, "No offense, by the way."

"Shadow travelling," Nico replied, dusting his cloak, "We needed a quick escape, this is it. Now get up, we need to warn the rest of the camp."

"Hey, Percy! You're back!" from the treetops emerged a blonde teen with the most blinding of smiles, no doubt a child of Apollo. "Everyone, false alarm," he yelled back to his sibling archers, who too, climbed out of their trees.

"So, the attack's off then? You stopped the Titan Army?" the son of Apollo patted Percy on the back "Wait, haven't I seen you before? And who are you?" he jabbed a finger at Nico and the Ethan kid.

"Oh, this is Nico, the kid that I've told you about. And the other guy, he's Ethan."

"I know that kid!" Clarisse made her way to the questors, flanked by a phalanx of her siblings, "You're the scrawny Nemesis kid who disappeared! Where the hell have you been?" Her eyes flashed menacingly at Ethan, grilling him.

"We picked him up in Luke's underground arena." Percy replied, turning towards the daughter of Ares, discreetly shielding his new friend from her perpetual glare "Luke was having him fight for entertainment. He umm… left camp a while ago?" that raised a few eyebrows.

"Wait, you didn't take him on your quest?" Nico asked incredulously. "You mean you found him in the arena? How can we trust him? For all we know, he could be working for the titans!" Nico cast a dirty look at Ethan, who had sulked behind Percy, reluctant to partake in the judgement of his loyalty. His sole eye held such an expression that Nico was almost certain he was a traitor.

"Now, now," Percy chimed in, "I vouch for him, he will not betray Olympus."

"Not again, that is." Clarisse countered. "Obviously he has betrayed us once before, he left camp to join the Titans!"

"See here, he has nowhere else to go, why the hell would he betray us then?" Percy nose to nose against Clarisse, "I will not have you execute him, not again."

"Percy, I think you should—" Nico tried to intervene before Percy and Clarisse could tear each other apart. Clarisse silenced him with a punch to the gut.

"Zip it, dead guy, this is Camp matters, I will deal with you later." Clarisse spat at Nico, then shifted her attention back at Percy, "That Ethan kid is a gods dammed coward, I wouldn't be surprised if he would get down on his knees and lick your boots to survive."

"He is not a coward, you're just plain cruel."

"Am not. I do what I must for the safety of the camp! You're soft and can't bear to get your hands dirty. You know what? You're weak."

"And you're despotic!"

"Pathetic!"

"Paranoid!"

The Campers, along with Nico and Ethan observed cynically as the trial for Ethan's loyalty descended into a shouting, name-calling match.

While the two unofficial leaders of the Camp were squabbling, the campers stood in disarray, unable to pick a side.

"He came to us because he has nowhere else to go!" Percy poked Clarisse.

"Exactly!" Clarisse poked Percy back with twice the strength. "Which is why he would return to the Titan Army as soon as it suits him."

"You do not know that!" Percy shoved Clarisse back a good three feet.

"You're both wrong," Ethan shouted towards the pair, who sprang apart almost immediately. "I am loyal to Luke, but not to the titans. And no, I did not come here because I had nowhere to go, I came by choice."

The mist shimmered and revealed a golden thread wrapped around Ethan's waist, leading… to the entrance to the Labyrinth.

"You need one end of Ariadne's String anchored to where you need to go. Then you could follow the trail to the exit." Ethan held up his end to the string for all to see. "The Titan Army is on its way to Camp. You cannot win against them. Join us, surrender peacefully. Every drop of demigod blood shed is a waste."

The campers stared silently at the son of Nemesis, some awed by his sheer nerve to confess his betrayal, others weighing the benefits of his offer. Nico could see in their eyes that every one of them dreaded what grim fates that lay ahead.

"If you wish to surrender, move to the south side of the woods. No harm will come to you, I guarantee it." That sent a wave of muttering among the demigods, not just the unclaimed from the Hermes cabin, but between campers of all parentage. There was a delicate balance: no one denounced Ethan's proclamation while no one dared be the first to pay heed to it, lest their outburst mark them as targets for the judgement of their peers.

Even Clarisse and Percy ceased their bickering. They stood in grim silence before the campers' assembly, unable to utter the half-formed orders choked in their throats.

The campgrounds shake in an ominous manner, the woods seem shadier than usual.

"Form ranks! Archers back to your posts! Beckendorf, the catapults." Clarisse barked, before punching Ethan so hard that he passed out, "I will deal with you later." she said while kicking his unconscious body again.

The campers scrambled into action, this time with much vigor, now that their lives are on the line. The few sparse holes littered the phalanx seemed abrupt in the otherwise flawless formation, while the few unclaimed demigods stood uneasily on the west side of the woods, under the scrutiny of their more fortunate brethren. No one made any comment on the vacant squares between their ranks.

But Nico did.

With brutal efficiency he cut down the group of demigods that stood out of formation. Silently they fell to the ground.

No one said a word.


End file.
